Even as India’s Narendra Modi is sworn in as PM for third time, he is diminished
Narendra Modi has been sworn in as prime minister for a third consecutive term by India’s President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony in New Delhi.
The 73-year-old is only the second prime minister, after Jawaharlal Nehru, to win three terms since the country gained independence in 1947.
Heads of almost all of the South Asian nation’s neighbours were present at the ceremony – but the absence of Pakistan’s leader was conspicuous, with relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours being at their lowest over the past few years.
Narendra Modi (right) is sworn in as prime minister of India. Pic: AP
A multi-layered security blanket covered the venue with thousands of police and paramilitaries deployed in the nation’s capital. A no-fly zone over the region has been enforced as well as a ban on paragliders, hang gliders, UAVs, microlight aircraft, and hot air balloons.
Unlike the first two terms, Mr Modi‘s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to win a majority and is now entirely reliant on smaller regional parties to form and stabilise his rule for the next five years.
Its been a bruising victory for Mr Modi, who won a landslide victory in 2014. Since then he has dominated the political landscape of the country.
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Narendra Modi: A history-making leader with god-like status
In 2019, Mr Modi achieved an increased mandate of 303 seats of the 543 seats in parliament. The overwhelming majority provided him a carte blanche to govern without being dependent on coalition partners. A few of his allies withdrew support but this did not affect the stability of his government.
This time around it’s different. With 240 seats, his party has fallen short by 32 seats and has to rely entirely on smaller regional parties.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), along with many other smaller parties, will help Mr Modi to the crucial halfway mark of 272 seats in parliament.
In the past, governments have fallen by just one vote and Mr Modi will be mindful of the potential of his alliance partners to do him damage.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from Andhra Pradesh with 16 MPs and the Janata Dal United (JDU) party from Bihar with 12 MPs hold the key to the stability of Mr Modi’s government.
These partners, however small, will extract their own pound of flesh for their support.
Once seen as an invincible strong man heading a Hindu-dominant BJP relying on the religious majority, Mr Modi has now been punished by the Indian voter – especially in rural areas.
This can be seen in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), which has 80 seats and where the BJP won just 33, down 29 from the previous election.
Mr Modi’s right-wing government relies heavily on wooing the Hindu majority, some 80% of the population.
With an eye on the elections, Mr Modi consecrated the Lord Ram Temple in Ayodhya earlier this year. Yet the city, which falls under the constituency of Faizabad, elected a non-BJP candidate.
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January: Why is the Ram Temple controversial?
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India election: PM Narendra Modi’s coalition wins majority
Mr Modi himself fought his third election from the holy city of Varanasi and won by a margin of just 152,513 votes, significantly lower than his 2019 winning margin of 480,000 votes.
In his party he is ranked 116 out of the 240 winning MPs by vote margin, one of the lowest ever by a sitting prime minister.
The results are a blow to Mr Modi and the carefully crafted image he portrays.
During the election, he resorted to strident anti-Muslim rhetoric. His campaign was conspicuously devoid of the achievements of the last 10 years of government.
That, while the Congress-led opposition campaigned on issues of high unemployment, inflation, cost of living crisis, farmers’ woes and rural distress.
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India may have overtaken Britain as the fifth-largest economy in the world during Mr Modi’s term – but its GDP per capita remains dismal, with India ranking 136th globally.
Unemployment is a persistent problem and thousands of young men risk their lives to seek a better future outside India.
Inequality is at a historic high, even more stark than under colonial Britain.
According to a report by the Paris-based World Inequalities Lab, the top 1% of India’s population controls 40% of the nation’s wealth.
India ranks 111th out of the 125 nations in the Global Hunger Index (2023) report. The government, however, has rejected the report’s findings.
Last year, Mr Modi announced the extension of a free food ration scheme to 800 million Indians for the next five years.
In his third term, Mr Modi is diminished and his right-wing bombast is no longer attractive to the ordinary person, especially the younger generation.
Mr Modi now faces an emboldened opposition whose economic and social programmes are attractive.
He will need to shun the divisive narrative that no longer washes with the public and maintain and protect the liberal and secular values on which the country was created.
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
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In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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IDF chief says conditions ‘created’ for Gaza ceasefire
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal ?
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
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More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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