‘Replace hate with hope’: Nawaz Sharif felicitates Modi on re-election as PM

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday felicitated Narendra Modi on taking oath as the Prime Minister of India.

The PML-N supremo offered congratulations through his official X account, acknowledging Modi’s recent electoral success.

“My warm felicitations to [Narendra] Modi Ji on assuming office for the third time. Your party’s success in recent elections reflects the confidence of the people in your leadership,” Nawaz Sharif wrote on X.

My warm felicitations to Modi Ji (@narendramodi) on assuming office for the third time. Your party’s success in recent elections reflects the confidence of the people in your leadership. Let us replace hate with hope and seize the oppurtunity to shape the destiny of the two…

— Nawaz Sharif (@NawazSharifMNS) June 10, 2024

He also urged the Indian prime minister to ‘replace hate with hope and seize the opportunity to shape the destiny of the two billion people of South Asia’.

Nawaz Sharif attended the ceremony when Modi became the prime minister for the first time in 2014. But the ties have worsened during a decade under Modi, who has ramped up his Hindu nationalist agenda.

Pakistan suspended bilateral trade and downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi in 2019, after Modi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian-held Kashmir in a move widely celebrated across India.

Modi was sworn in as Indian PM on Sunday for a third term after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won the general election with 293 seats – a much lower margin than predicted, contrary to the 234 seats won by now resurged opposition.

Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying analysts’ expectations and exit polls.

He was instead forced into quick-fire talks with the 15-member coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which guaranteed him the parliamentary numbers to govern.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also offered a brief congratulations to his counterpart Narendra Modi on his re-election in rival India, almost a week after the results came in.

“Felicitations to Narendra Modi on taking oath as the prime minister of India,” he posted on X, in the first official comments from Pakistan.

Modi responded to Shehbaz Sharif’s message through a post on X that said: “Thank you @cmshehbaz for your good wishes.”