The much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday, with 20 ministers taking oath. The ceremony began with Minister of State (Independent charge) Prakash Javadekar’ elevation to cabinet rank.
Nineteen other faces were inducted as ministers of state, and five names were dropped. The top four ministries– Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs– didn’t see any change.
All new joinees are from the BJP, except Ramdas Athavale and Anupriya Patel. Here is a brief profile of some of the important names from the new cabinet and the portfolios they will hold.
Javadekar Promoted to HRD Minister, Replaces Irani
On Tuesday, Prakash Javadekar was elevated to the post of Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, replacing Smriti Irani.
Javadekar, the lone Minister of State in the Modi government to have been elevated to Cabinet rank, has been rewarded for his work in the Environment Ministry, especially his pro-active role in the climate change talks in Paris. It has been a turnaround for Javadekar, who was earlier stripped of the charge of two key departments– Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs.
A former banker, Javadekar (65) was a member of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students wing of RSS. He was also the BJP spokesman for Maharashtra and rose to become the party’s national spokesperson in 2005.
M J Akbar: Congress MP to MoS External Affairs
M J Akbar became the minister of state (MoS) for external affairs.
Akbar’s debut as a minister caps a remarkable political turnaround for the journalist and author who made a dashing foray into politics as a Congress MP in 1989, thanks to his proximity to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, before a long spell in wilderness.
65-year-old Akbar, who was recently elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, is seen as an articulate and modern Muslim voice in BJP who can also be trusted to defend it from charges of extreme Hindutva policies with his eloquent evocation of Modi’s developmental agenda.
Though Akbar was critical of Modi in 2002 after the riots in Gujarat, he gradually realigned his sympathies with the saffron party as he assailed the Gandhi family over its leadership of Congress.
Sidelined in Delhi, Vijay Goel is New Sports Minister
Vijay Goel was appointed as MoS Sports and Youth Affairs on Tuesday after the portfolios for the new ministers inducted into Modi’s cabinet were declared.
His inclusion in the Union Council of Ministers marks a comeback of sorts for the leader after the BJP virtually removed him from Delhi, where he once hoped to be the chief ministerial face, and sent him to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
A skilful and media savvy politician, Goel (62) may be used, according to a section of the party, to counter AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose consistent attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi often force the top BJP brass into damage control mode with the state leadership being seen as largely ineffectual.
With Modi often exhorting his ministers to spread the word about his government’s work among the masses, Goel’s knack of publicising issues is likely to come in handy.
SS Ahluwalia Appointed MoS Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs
From being a minister in the PV Narasimha Rao Cabinet to a ‘research scholar’ for the BJP on various key legislations, Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia was made minister of state (MoS) for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs.
The Patna-based politician is known for taking stands which are, at times, contrary to the party’s position.
Ahluwalia, who wears bright-coloured turbans, is fluent in Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, English and, of course, Punjabi.
A member of the Lok Sabha from Darjeeling, Ahluwalia was previously a Member of Parliament representing Bihar and Jharkhand in the Rajya Sabha in 1986-1992, 1992-1998, 2000–2006, and 2006-2012.
Anupriya Patel Allotted Health and Family Welfare
Anupriya Patel, a first time MP, was allotted the ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Patel is an eloquent pro-Modi voice within and outside the Lok Sabha. Her OBC roots have positioned her as an important BJP ally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
The 35-year-old Lok Sabha member from Mirzapur in UP won on the ticket of Apna Dal, a party founded by her father and Kurmi leader Sonelal Patel which later split, with the major faction siding with her mother, who expelled her from the party.
Her inclusion in the Union Council of Ministers is apparently aimed at consolidating backward votes in poll bound UP, especially eastern parts of the state where another Kurmi leader and Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has been trying to make a foray ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls.
An LSR graduate, Patel’s speeches in the Lower House on various issues have often drawn lavish praise from the treasury benches.
Ramdas Athawale Given Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry
Ramdas Athawale was given the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry.
Known for his sense of humour, Athawale is a prominent Dalit leader from Maharashtra. His induction comes at a time when the BJP has laid claim to the legacy of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.
Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (Athawale), an NDA ally, has been a trade unionist and is known more for his blunt remarks and popular laughter-evoking speeches in Parliament and outside.
Calling himself “the fearless panther of India”, the 56-year-old leader claims to have led the ‘Dalit Panther Movement’, a social movement for equality, justice and human rights world-wide.
Athawale courted controversy when he demanded firearms for Dalits for self-defence in the backdrop of suicide by a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad University.
His real life theatrics saw him land the title role in Marathi film ‘Anya Yacha Pratikar’; he also made a cameo appearance in ‘Joshi ki Kamble’, played a role in Marathi drama ‘Ekach Pyala’, and participated in a few others.
(With PTI inputs)
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