Narendra Modi took oath as prime minister of India for the second consecutive term on Thursday in the presence of notable leaders and celebrities from around the world.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), powered by its Hindutva ideology and nationalism, again made history by sweeping through the 2019 Lok Sabha election, and attaining more seats than ever.
However, this time around, it will not be a cakewalk for the ruling party because some prominent ministers such as Sushma Swaraj and Suresh Prabhu have left ‘big shoes’ to be filled. Swaraj, was a ‘applauded’ External Affairs Minister who took every matter and case of Indian stuck aboard seriously and made sure that they got back home safely. She was one of the most active ministers and followed persons on Twitter. Another well known minister who did not make it into the Council of Ministers is Maneka Gandhi. She had courted controversy during the election campaign for saying that Muslims should not approach her for work if they don’t vote for her.
The BJP president, Amit Shah getting the portfolio of Home Ministry has shocked many across the country. Being the mover and shaker of the party, Shah made sure that the BJP swept through the election ceaselessly.
Here is a list of who’s who of the 17th Lok Sabha:
Name | Portfolio |
PM Narendra Modi | Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; and all important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any other minister |
Amit Shah | Minister of Home Affairs |
Rajnath Singh | Minister of Defence |
Nitin Gadkari | Minister of Road Transport & Highways; Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
Nirmala Sitharaman | Minister of Finance |
Piyush Goyal | Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry |
S.Jaishankar | Minister of External Affairs |
Ravi Shankar Prasad | Minister of Law; Communication and IT |
Ramesh Pokhriyal | Minister of Human Resource Development |
Narendra Singh Tomar | Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj |
Smriti Irani | Ministry of Women and Child Development; Minister of Textiles |
Ram Vilas Paswwan | Minister of Consumer Affairs; Food and Public Distribution |
Dharmendra Prasad | Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; Minister of Steel |
D.V. Sadananda Gowda | Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers |
Harsimrat Kaur Badal | Minister of Food Processing Industries |
Thaawar Chand Gehlot | Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment |
Arjun Munda | Minister of Tribal Affairs |
Harsh Vardhan | Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; Minister of Earth Science |
Prakash Javadekar | Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Information & Broadcasting |
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi | Minister of Minority Affairs |
Prahlad Joshi | Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal and Mines |
Mahendra Nath Pandey | Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship |
Arvind Ganpat Sawant | Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise |
Giriraj Singh | Minister of Animal Husbandry. Dairying and Fisheries |
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat | Minister of Jal Shakti |