India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S. Jaishankar was sitting in the front row during the inauguration of President Donald Trump. While many other representatives of different countries were seated in the second or third row, the prominent seat allocated to Dr Jaishankar signified what lies ahead for Indo-US relations. The photos and the videos of the event with Jaishankar sitting in front of Trump have gone viral on social media sites.
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.
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.
This was the first time international leaders were invited to attend the inauguration of a US President. Earlier in the day, Jaishankar 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 were among the other global leaders who attended the inauguration. (With IANS inputs)
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