India's freshly re-elected prime minister, Narendra Modi, has called on the members of the new parliament to fulfil people's wishes for "substance, not slogans," as the body met for the first time.
Modi told reporters that the parties in parliament should focus on finding consensus, as lawmakers sat for the first session since national elections in April and May.
Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP, which has been in power since 2014, lost its absolute majority in the election. Although the BJP remains the strongest force, Modi is now dependent on coalition partners to push through government policy in his third five-year term.
Modi said his coalition with mostly small, regional parties will focus on economic development and supporting poorer sections of the population.
During the election campaign, the BJP had focussed on a personality cult around Modi as an almost god-like leader. It propagated a Hindu nationalist agenda, according to which India should become a state only for the Hindu majority, which makes up 80% of the population.
Modi's secular coalition partners, however, do not share this agenda. Observers therefore believe that Modi will be less able to push ahead with many of his policy plans.
