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Narendra Modi Sworn In as Chief Minister of India's Gujarat State - 2002-12-22


Controversial Hindu leader, Narendra Modi, has been sworn in as chief minister in riot-scarred Gujarat state.

Modi, who was Gujarat chief minister during the bloody Hindu-Muslim clashes this year, took his oath today (Sunday) along with 15 other ministers at a stadium in Ahmedabad.

About 100-thousand supporters cheered and chanted nationalist slogans in a massive show of strength.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the national ruling coalition, attended the ceremony.

The B-J-P took 126 seats in the recent election and now controls two-thirds of the 182-seat assembly of Gujarat state.

Mr. Modi led the prime minister's pro-Hindu party to victory. His election came despite accusations that he failed to protect minority Muslims from Hindu mobs in the rioting that killed more than one-thousand people.

Muslims were the main victims of the rioting that was sparked in a frenzy of reprisals after 59 Hindu activists were burned to death when their train was torched by a Muslim mob in February.

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