PM Modi bows down, this time before Constitution

Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowed and respectfully touched the Constitution of India with his forehead, as he walked towards the podium after being elected as the leader of the NDA and BJP parliamentary party on Saturday.

Wearing a white kurta and churidar with a brown checkered half-jacket, Prime Minister Modi humbly greeted the newly elected MPs with folded hands in the Central Hall of the Parliament before walking towards the Constitution, which was placed atop a risen platform with a white cloth.

The gesture reminisced of his action in 2014. As he stepped into the Parliament for the first time after storming the BJP into power, PM Modi bent down with his forehead touching the stairs, to register his high respect for the "temple of democracy."

In the summer of 2014, soon after arriving for the BJP parliamentary party at the main gate of the Parliament building, Modi was greeted with bouquets by his party leaders, following which he touched the ground of the entrance with folded hands.

Prime Minister Modi, who steered the NDA coalition to a massive victory in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, was on Saturday unanimously elected as the leader of the BJP parliamentary party and the NDA parliament party to head the government once again.

He was elected at a combined meeting of the newly elected MPs of BJP and the NDA coalition by 353 MPs, who raised their hands with slogans of Modi and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' echoing in the Central Hall of Parliament.