India's Modi calls for 'consensus' as parliament opens after polls

AFP News
·4-min read
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to reporters before the opening of the first parliamentary session since general elections (-)
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to reporters before the opening of the first parliamentary session since general elections (-)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to an emboldened opposition for "consensus" Monday, as parliament opened following an election setback that forced him into a coalition government for the first time in a decade.

Expected in the first session, which will run until July 3, is a preview of Modi's plans for his third term and the likely formal appointment of Rahul Gandhi as leader of the opposition -- a post vacant since 2014.

Modi's first two terms in office followed landslide wins for his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), allowing his government to drive laws through parliament with only cursory debate.

But now analysts expect the 73-year-old Modi to moderate his Hindu-nationalist agenda to assuage his coalition partners, focusing more on infrastructure, social welfare and economic reforms.

"To run the country, a consensus is of utmost importance", Modi said in a speech shortly before entering parliament, calling on the opposition to play a constructive role.

"People expect their representatives to debate and discuss issues which are important to the country... they don't expect disturbances or hindrances in the parliamentary proceedings," he said.

"People want substance, not slogans."

Modi led lawmakers in taking the oath -- as his cheering supporters thumped their desks in support, and opposition members waved the constitution in protest.

He said he was "proud to serve" India.

- 'Set to spar' -

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday called for a "peaceful and productive" session, but Indian media said they expected lively debate with a far stronger opposition.

"All set to spar," one headline in the Hindustan Times read Monday.

"Resurgent opposition set to push government," said the Indian Express front page.

Rahul Gandhi, 54, defied analyst expectations to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers, its best result since Modi was swept to power a decade ago.

Gandhi is the scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

Parliamentary regulations require the opposition leader to come from a party that commands at least 10 percent of the lawmakers in the 543-seat lower house.

The post has been vacant for 10 years because two dismal election results for Congress -- once India's dominant party -- left it short of that threshold.

- Lawmakers elected behind bars -

Newly elected lawmakers will take their oaths over the first two days.

Many will be watching if two lawmakers elected from behind bars, bitter opponents of Modi, will be allowed to join.

One is the Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh, a firebrand preacher arrested last year after a month-long police manhunt in Punjab state.

The other is Sheikh Abdul Rashid, a former state legislator in Indian-administered Kashmir.

It is unclear if either will be granted bail to attend the ceremony in person.

Modi's decade as premier has seen him cultivate an image as an aggressive champion of the country's majority Hindu faith, worrying minorities including India's 200-million-plus Muslim community.

But his BJP won only 240 seats in this year's poll, 32 short of a majority in the lower house -- its worst showing in a decade.

It has left the BJP reliant on a motley assortment of minor parties to govern.

Modi has kept key posts unchanged in this government and the cabinet remains dominated by the BJP.

That includes BJP loyalists Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar -- the defence, interior, transport, finance and foreign ministers, respectively -- staying on in their jobs.

But out of his 71-member government, 11 posts went to coalition allies who extracted them in exchange for their support -- including five in the top 30 cabinet posts.

Many will also be eying the election of the speaker, a powerful post overseeing the running of the lower house, with lawmakers slated to vote on Wednesday.

Coalition allies covet the post, but others suggest Modi will put forward a candidate from the BJP.

For the first time, lawmakers took the oath in India's new parliament building, a grand hexagonal legislature inaugurated last year.

The building was seen as the centrepiece of a remodelling of the heart of New Delhi by Modi aimed at ridding the Indian capital of the vestiges of British colonial rule.

Opposition parties boycotted the opening.

asv-pjm/qan

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • ‘This wasn’t a debate, it was a medical emergency’: Our writers give their verdicts

    Follow the latest reaction in our live blog

  • Taiwan warns against travel to China after execution threat

    TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's government raised its travel warning for China on Thursday, telling its citizens not to go unless absolutely necessary, following a threat from Beijing last week to execute those deemed "diehard" Taiwan independence supporters. Liang Wen-chieh, spokesperson for Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, told reporters the raised travel warning also applied to the Chinese-run cities of Hong Kong and Macau. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of President Lai Ching-te, whom it views as a "separatist", and staged two days of war games after he took office last month.

  • ‘Panic mode’ Democrats begin calling for Biden to step aside after ‘horrible’ debate performance against Trump

    ‘Need to have Harris take over. Cleanest option,’ one Democrat strategist told The Independent

  • Beijing backtracks on a law punishing clothing that hurts ‘the feelings of the Chinese people’ after a public outcry

    People were concerned about the law's vagueness, after reported incidents where officials targeted people wearing traditional Japanese clothing.

  • Indonesia detains 103 Taiwanese in a raid in Bali involving suspected cybercrime

    Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese people after a raid at a villa on the resort island of Bali, officials said Friday. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charged them with conducting cybercrime.

  • China says it picked up a submarine detector dropped by a US Navy aircraft in the South China Sea

    A video shared by Chinese state media shows a US Navy plane dropping something into the sea. China called it a submarine detector.

  • Breaking ranks: Justice Amy Coney Barrett defies Supreme Court conservatives to back environmental protections

    Justice Barrett, a Trump appointee, split from her conservative colleagues in recent decisions

  • 'F**K': Jon Stewart Goes Ballistic With Unfiltered Live Reaction To Trump-Biden Debate

    "The Daily Show" host said "this cannot be real life" after Thursday night's TV matchup between the current president and the former one.

  • South Korea is running out of children – and this country could be next

    Every spring, when warm rays of sunshine herald the start of South Korea’s baking summer, fountains across Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun plaza suddenly burst into life, sending cooling jets of water into the air.

  • Social Media Predicts Outcome Of Trump-Biden Debate — And It's Hilarious

    Pundits and politicians aren’t the only ones offering their hot takes on how Thursday’s CNN event will go.

  • US moves forces closer to Israel and Lebanon amid concerns of escalating cross-border fire

    The US is moving forces closer to Israel and Lebanon amid concerns of escalating cross-border fire, according to two US officials, including forces able to carry out an evacuation of American citizens.

  • Iran is preparing to open a new front in its war against Israel

    If, as the polls indicate, Labour will form our new government next week, it is likely that one of its first challenges will be how to respond to the eruption of full-scale hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

  • Modi's govt calls on Indian state to look into Reuters report on Foxconn hiring

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Wednesday said it has asked the Tamil Nadu state to submit a "detailed report" after a Reuters story revealed that Apple supplier Foxconn rejected married women from iPhone assembly jobs in the country. In a statement calling for the probe, the federal government's Ministry of Labour and Employment cited the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, saying the law "clearly stipulates that no discrimination (is) to be made while recruiting men and women workers." The ministry said it has requested a detailed report from the Labour Department of Tamil Nadu, site of a major iPhone factory where Reuters uncovered Foxconn’s practice of shunning married women from jobs.

  • ‘This party should fall’: MAGA candidate who didn’t win Boebert’s old seat calls Republican Party ‘irredeemable’

    Volunteers and supporters of grassroots Colorado Republican Ron Hanks, who’d hoped to fill the congressional seat vacated by fellow MAGA diehard Lauren Boebert, gathered Tuesday night at a Grand Junction brewery for a watch party. Hanks lamented the results — and the state of the Republican Party. Sheila Flynn reports from the third congressional district

  • Hassan Nasrallah: the man who has led Hezbollah to the brink of war with Israel

    Conventional wisdom suggested he would resist triggering full-scale war but the ground appears to be shifting

  • Watch: Biden arrives for first presidential debate against Trump in Atlanta

    Watch as Joe Biden arrived in Atlanta to face off against Republican rival Donald Trump the first 2024 presidential debate. The 90-minute televised debate, the first between a sitting president and a former one, will air at 9 pm ET (1am GMT on Friday) on CNN and is expected to draw a huge audience. A record 84 million watched Mr Trump’s first debate in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

  • Hezbollah fires rockets at military base in Israel, says four fighters killed

    Hezbollah said it fired "dozens" of rockets Thursday at a military base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon, announcing four of its fighters had been killed. Fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have risen in recent weeks as threats have intensified between the sides, which have traded regular cross-border fire since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in the Gaza Strip.Hamas ally Hezbollah said that "in response to the enemy attacks that targ

  • Bolivian army chief arrested after coup attempt

    Bolivia's army chief was arrested Wednesday after sending soldiers and tanks to take up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted "coup d'etat".The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said the "armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years."Shortly thereafter, AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square.Later Wednesday, Zuniga was captured and forced into a police car as he addressed reporters outside a military barracks, footage on state television showed. "General, you are under arrest," Deputy Interior Minister Jhonny Aguilera told Zuniga."No one can take away the democracy we have won," Arce said from a balcony of the government palace in front of hundreds of supporters.Earlier he had urged "the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup d'etat in favor of democracy," in a televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace. He also swore in new military leaders, firing Zuniga.Former president Evo Morales wrote on X that "a coup d'etat is brewing" and also urged a "national mobilization to defend democracy."- Zuniga's anti-democratic remarks -Bolivia is deeply polarized after years of political instability and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) is riven by internal conflict between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.Morales, who was Bolivia's first Indigenous president, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019. The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country. He returned after Arce won the presidency in October 2020.Since then a power struggle has grown between the two men, and Morales has increasingly criticized the government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.Six months ago, the Constitutional Court disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, however he is still seeking nomination as the MAS candidate.Arce has not said whether he will seek re-election.Zuniga appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales if he insisted on running for office again in 2025."Legally he is disqualified, that man cannot be president of this country again," he said.Since that interview, rumors have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.- Calls for calm -The US administration of Joe Biden said it was keeping a close eye on events in Bolivia and "calls for calm," according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.Condemnations of the troop movements also poured in from across Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be respected. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: "I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d'etat in Bolivia."Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for "respect for democracy and the rule of law," in a message on X.The Organization of American States (OAS) said the international community would "not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia."bur-fb/md

  • Israel says it can send Lebanon 'back to Stone Age' as UN warns against war

    Israel said it does not want war in Lebanon but could send its neighbour "back to the Stone Age", as the UN's humanitarian chief warned such a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic".It's potentially apocalyptic," warned Griffiths, whose term ends this week.

  • Germany demands new citizens accept Israel’s right to exist

    People applying for naturalization in Germany will now be required to affirm Israel’s right to exist, under changes to the country’s citizenship law.