Singh sworn in as India's PM (first NON-Hindu PM in India)

[Dover]

Singh sworn in as India's PM


Saturday 22 May 2004, 16:47 Makka Time, 13:47 GMT


Manmohan Singh is the first non-Hindu PM in India



Manmohan Singh has been sworn in as prime minister of India by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to head a Congress party-led government.

Singh read and signed an oath on Saturday in the presence of Kalam, the ceremonial head of state. Members of the incoming cabinet followed Singh by taking their oaths. Their portfolios were to be announced later.

Other cabinet ministers who were among the first to be sworn in included Congress veteran Arjun Singh, former defence minister Sharad Pawar and former Bihar state chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Outgoing prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance was defeated in the election, smiled and shook Singh's hand before the handover of power.

Singh, after signing his oath, folded his hands in a traditional
greeting to Kalam and then to a beaming Sonia Gandhi, the
Italian-born chief of the Congress party who declined to become prime minister...>

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/35F5EA2A-1250-4ABD-B988-818C4FBA3FAB.htm

___________

From Times of India:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/692105.cms

Manmohan takes oath as India's PM

IANS< SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2004 07:18:05 PM >

NEW DELHI: Manmohan Singh was Saturday sworn in as India's 13th prime minister at the head of a Congress-led coalition government, heralding another smooth transition of power in the world's largest democracy.

President APJ Abdul Kalam administered the oath of office and secrecy to Singh, 71, at the ceremonial Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Dressed in spotless white kurta and regulation blue turban, the Oxford-educated Singh, a former finance minister, took his oath in English.

..snip..

The Congress party returns to power after eight years but at the head of a coalition government for the first time.
Other outgoing ministers present swearing in included Vajpayee's deputy L K Advani, seated right next to Narasimha Rao and two seats from Sonia Gandhi. A total of 68 ministers were expected to be sworn in along with Manmohan Singh.

As the finance minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government between 1991 and 1996, Manmohan Singh not only put India on the map of the world's attractive investment destinations but also brought about a fundamental change in the way India Inc. conducted its business.

As the new prime minister, the soft-spoken, internationally acknowledged economist has vowed reforms with a human face.

[w13rd0]

1. Ok, if he's not a Hindu...

...is he an agnostic? Muslim?

[JI7]

3. he is a sikh

those guys who wear the turbans. also, i believe the sikh population is actually lower than it's christian population. and i found out the "problem" many had with sonia gandhi was her being foriegn born rather than religion (catholicism).

[mobuto]

7. The Congress Party is totally secular

the people who wouldn't want a Sikh in office vote BJP anyways.

[Dover]

2. India's New Government

http://www.csis.org/saprog/040519_electionstatement.pdf

In the end, even the most seasoned pollster and election pundits guessed wrong. After enduring months of a self-congratulatory campaign (“India Shining”), the Indian electorate has given the thumbs down to the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led government. Anger among middle-class and rural voters was part of the reason, but coalition management by the Congress and host of local issues were also important. Although it’s still early to predict the shape of the new government that task will now go to the main opposition party, Congress, which, together with its allies, has won 219 out of the 539 contested seats. The BJP-led coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), managed to get only 188. A “Left Front”, dominated by the Communists, recorded its best-ever performance, and will play a major role. Manmohan Singh, the Oxford-educated former finance minister and architect of India’s reforms in the 1990s, is mostly likely to be India’s 14th Prime Minister.

Economic anxiety may be premature: The prospect of an unstable government, with a large input from the communist parties, coupled with the rejection of two reform-minded chief ministers, has sent the Indian stock markets into a tailspin. BJP ally Chandrababu Naidu and Congress’s S.M. Krishna, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, are both out. But these worries may be overdrawn. It was the Congress, under the stewardship of Singh, which began India’s economic reforms in the early 1990s. He has come out to assure investors and calm the jittery markets. His reputation as a pragmatic policymaker calls for some optimism that the new government is unlikely to roll back reform policies already in place. Congress's manifesto also commits it to a policy of sustaining and even accelerating current rates of economic growth. That will not be possible without continuing to attract foreign investment, boost exports and encourage India’s dynamic private industries. Not surprisingly, the Indian stock markets rallied on hearing Singh’s nomination as the PM candidate.

At the state level, the communist parties have adopted a more realistic approach towards market reforms. For instance, the communist government, which has ruled West Bengal for over 20 years, has persuaded companies like IBM to invest in the state. Communist leaders, notorious for their fire-breathing anti-capitalist rhetoric, are now publicly speaking against union strikes and wooing companies like PepsiCo and Mitsubishi Chemicals to come to their state. Managing the budget deficit will prove to a challenge for Congress, however....>>

[WheresWaldo]

4. The Hindu fundametnalists must be in agony

they have a Sikh Prime Minister and a Muslim President.

[belle]

11. If nothing else, a good reminder that nothing is fixed in stone.

And that surprises--good as well as bad--can and do always happen.

[Dover]

5. Did Bush blunder cause Vajpayee ouster?...Hillary Hails India's Democracy

Did Bush blunder cause Vajpayee ouster?

WASHINGTON : A diplomatic blunder by the Bush administration may have contributed to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's surprise ouster, says noted US columnist Jim Hoagland.

In an article entitled "Behind the Surprise in India" in the Sunday Washington Post, Hoagland recalls that Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to the Asian subcontinent in March, while little noticed in the US, left many Indians feeling Vajpayee had been deliberately "stiffed and humiliated" by the Bush administration..>>

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/679140.cms

________________


Hillary hails India's 'spectacular' democracy

IANS< FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2004 01:34:15 PM >

WASHINGTON : US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has congratulated Manmohan Singh on being named India 's new Prime Minister and complimented the Indian electorate on "their spectacular demonstration of the power of their votes”.

The smooth transition of power from the Vajpayee government to the one led by the Congress and its allies indicated the sound democratic traditions of India , she said in a keynote address on Thursday at an award function dinner...cont'd

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/689469.cms

[JI7]

6. no, that wasn't the case

he lost because they talked about all the progress india had made, especially economically. but the fact was that a large percentage of the people had been left out of it. and they used taxpayer funds to promote their campaign which the people had been left out of. so they went to the polls and voted against it. and this doesn't even include the hate and violence spread by the bjp against minorities.

[varun]

9. Maybe...

...BJP supported Bush whole-heartedly in the "War on Terrorism"...even endorsed the Missile shield (in the hopes that USA would protect India with this missile shield).

But what did India get in return?

$3 billion of US taxpayer's money to Pakistan. Most Indians saw that BJP's strategy supporting Dubya was a big mistake.

[Nlighten1]

8. I fear for this man's life.

The VJP is an openly fascist organization. I don't believe they will like this one bit.

[cosmicone]

10. I disagree

BJP has some elements that are fascist but it also has elements that are progressive and socialist.

Vajpayee himself got elected from Lucknow where 67% of the electorate is muslim.

[cosmicone]

12. Not the first non-hindu

Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi was a Zoroastrian (Parsi) and not a hindu. So was Indira Gandhi by marriage to Rajiv's father Feroze Gandhi although she was born a hindu.

Secularism is alive and well in India in ALL parties but unfortunately the western media only report religious strifes -- never the good news.

By the way, President Abdul Kalam was elected by the BJP.

[jmatthan]

13. Not true

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, was an Atheist!!

Indira Gandhi was a Hindu of convenience.

Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland