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The key to India’s success is its diversity #PresidentKovind — President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) 1500966910000

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#PresidentKovind at work https://t.co/0QK5IE8Q5z — President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) 1500988623000

Photos of #PresidentKovind being sworn-in as the 14th President of India https://t.co/8oWT1ZZ7df — President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) 1500973804000

Watch: President Ram Nath Kovind's full speech

NEW DELHI: Ram Nath Kovind was sworn in as India’s 14th President in an impressive ceremony in Parliament’s Central Hall on Tuesday, marking a change of guard that is significant in political terms as he became the first BJP leader to assume the highest constitutional office.The swearing-in was also the first occasion for Kovind to make a speech in which he underlined diversity as the key to India’s success. “Our diversity is the core that makes us so unique. In this land, we find a mix of states and regions, religions, languages, cultures, lifestyles and much more. We are so different and yet so similar and united,” he said.At the end of the ceremony, a handful of BJP MPs raised slogans of “Bharat Mata ki jai” and “Jai Shri Ram” to greet the installation of a leader from the saffron ranks as President. The slogans could be heard faintly as invitees rose to file out of Central Hall.Kovind left for Rashtrapati Bhavan with predecessor Pranab Mukherjee after receiving a 21-gun salute. Mukherjee reached his new residence at 10 Rajaji Marg later in the day, where he was received by minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju. Mukherjee had earlier said he would look to meld with the masses after his term.Kovind’s speech was marked by references to leaders like Sardar Patel and Deen Dayal Upadhyay but made no mention of Jawaharlal Nehru, which drew the ire of the Congress.He also spoke of Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, APJ Abdul Kalam and his predecessor Mukherjee, but did not mention others like KR Narayanan and Shankar Dayal Sharma.Kovind’s speech, delivered in Hindi, dwelt on the need to embrace tradition as also the advance of technology saying there was no dichotomy between the two. Kovind is the first Sangh member to assume the high office, and his election comes three years after BJP formed its first government at the Centre with a full majority.Chants of “Jai Shri Ram” was a reminder of the ideological shift in Delhi as some BJP MPs gave vent to their feelings, if only briefly. Interestingly, Kovind chose to speak of the values represented by Buddha and not Ram or any other Hindu icon. “It is appropriate that the land of Lord Buddha should lead the world in its search for peace, tranquillity and ecological balance,” he said.He linked his personal and political journey, beginning with his early life in a mud house in a UP hamlet, with that of many others in lakhs of similar villages, pointing out that the generation that grew up soon after Independence harboured a sense of expectation that life would change for the better.