Washington, Jan 21 (IANS) India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar joined international and US leaders and tech titans at the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the Capitol, taking a prominent seat.
This was the first time international leaders were invited to attend the inauguration of a US President.
EAM Jaishankar, who came as India’s Special Envoy, was given a place of honour, seated on the first seat on the first righthand row at the swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
Earlier in the day, he attended the prayer service at the St. John’s Episcopal Church where the day’s events began.
Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia, and Takeshi Iwaya of Japan, whose countries with India and the US make up the Indo-Pacific group, the Quad, were also there.
Wong said the invitation to the Quad Ministers affirmed Trump’s “iron-clad commitment” to the Indo-Pacific region.
The technology leaders drew the most attention at the ceremony, which was moved indoors because of the freezing weather with the thermometer at –8 degrees Celsius.
Elon Musk, the owner of X and founder of Telsa and SpaceX, who has emerged as a close confidant of Trump, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, CEOs Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook, and Sundar Pichai of Google, rubbed shoulders with politicians.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, and China’s Vice President, Han Zheng attended the inauguration.
The invitation list reflected Trump’s ideological bent sideling most of the elected officials in favour of Opposition figures like Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage, France’s Reconquete Party President Eric Zemmour, Belgium’s nationalist Vlaams Belang Party boss Tom Van Grieken, and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was invited but could not come because of court orders relating to allegations that he was involved in a coup plot. He sent his wife Michelle to represent him.
Among the domestic leaders, it was the two who did not attend who made waves.
While former President Barack Obama was there, his wife Michelle stayed away and gave no reason.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had a rancorous relationship with Trump also did not attend. At one of Trump’s State of the Union speech, she tore up the text of his speech from the podium.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton attended with their spouses.
Trump’s appointees to Cabinet and senior positions like Tulsi Gabbard named as Director of National Intelligence and Kash Patel as Federal Bureau of Investigation were there.
Trump had boycotted the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021, but the Bidens graciously came to Trump and his wife to the swearing-in after hosting the couple at the White House for traditional tea.
At the church, EAM Jaishankar was seen in conversation with Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for the Republican Party presidential nomination but dropped out to support Trump.
Ramaswamy is reported to be considering a run for Governor of Ohio.
–IANS
al/khz
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