Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India for a historic third consecutive term on Sunday. No Prime Minister other than Jawaharlal Nehru, the first PM of India, has been sworn-in for a third term.
Along with PM Modi, as many as 71 ministers were administered oath of office. Out of these 30 will be of Cabinet rank while 36 will be ministers of state. Modi's new council of ministers come from diverse social groups and all corners of the country. Altogether, they represent 24 states across the country.
The new Modi ministry includes 27 OBCs and 15 SC/STs. It also includes 5 ministers from the minority community. Moreover, 11 of the ministers belong to the NDA allies such as Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), Chirag Paswan's LJP (RV), and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, among others.
The ministers also come with several years of experience with 43 of them having served three or more terms in Parliament.
Multiple former chief ministers, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, HD Kumaraswamy, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Manohar Lal Khattar, are also part of the Cabinet. Sarbananda Sonowal is the first leader from the northeast to take oath. JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy was the first leader from any of the BJP's allies in the NDA to take oath.
BJP’s prominent Scheduled Castes face, Virendra Kumar, who won from Madhya Pradesh's Tikamgarh reserved seat, was also sworn-in. Shantanu Thakur, a second-time BJP MP from West Bengal's Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency and a leading figure of the backward Matua community, was also inducted.
Six-time Odisha MP and popular tribal face Jual Oram also took oath. Jharkhand's OBC leader Annapurna Devi also joined the cabinet. Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh, a Bhumihar leader and ex-national president of the JD(U) and Ram Nath Thakur, son of Karpuri Thakur, were also sworn in. Karpuri Thakur, the fountainhead of Bihar’s OBC politics, was posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna last year.
Two-time Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also been included in PM Modi's cabinet in his third consecutive term.
From Uttar Pradesh, the new Cabinet includes three upper caste members, four OBC members, and two Dalit members, in addition to Prime Minister Modi and Hardeep Puri.
Third-time Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has been retained in the Cabinet, a move said to be aimed at placating the Thakur community. Additionally, Gonda MP Kirti Vardhan Singh, a Thakur, has also been inducted.
BJP leader from Maharajganj, Pankaj Chaudhary, has been re-inducted. he belongs to the backward Kurmi caste group. Similarly, SP Singh Baghel, belonging to the Pal community, will continue as a Cabinet minister.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 293 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The BJP bagged 240 seats, falling short of the majority mark of 272. Several leaders from neighbouring countries and other nations will join Narendra Modi’s oath taking ceremony.
The portfolios will be announced later.
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