New Delhi, 25th July: First BJP member and only the second Dalit President Ram Nath Kovind took oath at a ceremony in the Central Hall of Parliament on Tuesday. He was administered the oath by the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar. He succeeds Pranab Mukherjee as the 14th President of India. Outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee and Kovind arrived in the Central Hall in a ceremonial procession, where Ram Nath Kovind was administered the oath. Vice-president Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers, Ambassadors and other diplomats, MPs and senior civil and military officers were among those present.

President Kovind in his inspiring speech hailed India’s diversity and promised to live up to the expectations of the common people, who he described as the nation’s architects. “Our diversity is our uniqueness. We follow different paths, beliefs and way of lives. We are different but united,” Kovind said while delivering his acceptance speech after being sworn in as the President in Parliament’s Central Hall amid a thunderous applause. Kovind, who was a two-term MP of the Rajya Sabha, recalled his childhood when his family lived in a hut in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. “It has been a long journey for me. I bow to all 125 crore people. The government alone can’t push the nation forward. The basis of the making of the nation is the pride of the Indians,” Kovind said, pointing out that the last person must get a chance to prosper. Echoing what his predecessor Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday, Kovind said that poor people should be included in the country’s prosperity. Kovind, the first President with RSS and BJP background, added that the task is to make India as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay. The new President, the second Dalit in the country’s top post, also talked about Dalit empowerment. “Dr BR Ambedkar was not happy about achieving only political independence. He wanted economic and social freedom for the people,” Kovind said as he emphasised that the 21st century will be India’s century. “The world is looking at us to tackle terror and environmental changes,” the 71-year-old said.