How Nawaz Sharif’s mother swung his decision to attend Modi’s swearing-in

New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had an emotional moment at the former’s grand swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.

The entire nation witnessed a historic moment as Modi took oath as India’s 15^th Prime Minister.

In a series of tweets after his swearing-in, Modi said that he and Sharif spoke about their mothers in a very emotional conversation. 

"Earlier in the evening in my conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif he shared some very emotional things. Nawaz Sharif ji told me that he stays in Islamabad but goes to meet his Mother once in a week."

Modi’s mother Hirabe, 95, watched her son live on TV at her home in Gandhinagar as she couldn’t make it to the ceremony.

On May 16, Modi had visited his mother soon after the election results were announced.

"This time when he was eating with his Mother he saw visuals on TV of my Mother offering me sweets...The visuals touched both Nawaz Sharif ji & his Mother. He told me that after seeing the visuals his Mother got very emotional," Mr Modi said on Twitter.

Sharif is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Modi today. Modi’s swearing-in witnessed the participation of some 4,000 guests and 8 SAARC leaders, a first for India.

After the ceremony, Mr Sharif, who had called it a "great moment and great opportunity", was the first to shake hands with the new Prime Minister.

He also said that he intended to pick up threads from where Atal Bihari Vajpayee and he left off.