'Great Honour': S Jaishankar In Front Row Seat At Trump Inauguration

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was seen in the front row as US President Donald Trump delivered his inaugural address at the Capital Rotunda in Washington DC.

Mr Jaishankar said it was a "great honour" to attend the ceremony as India's special envoy, which entitled him to a place of honour. He also met members of Trump's administration, including the 56th Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and nominee for the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Kash Patel.

The minister also exchanged a handshake with Vivek Ramaswamy, who quit the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency to possible pursue the race for Ohio governor.

Mr Jaishankar was joined by tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai at the ceremony held indoors amid chilly winds and freezing temperatures of -8 degrees Celsius.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, and China's Vice President Han Zheng also attended the inauguration, where Trump vowed the return of the "golden age of America". The leaders had congregated at the same place where Trump's supporters had staged an attack in January 2021 as they tried to overturn certification of his election loss to Joe Biden.

The president said his day-one orders include those curbing immigration, boost fossil fuel production, and roll back environmental regulations, namely the 2021 Paris Climate accord.

Trump also struck a nationalistic tone as he capped the most extraordinary comeback in US political history, pledging to impose trade tariffs, rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and take "back" the Panama Canal, which has been controlled by the Central American country since 1999.