Narendra Modi and his 57 council of ministers were sworn-in for a second consecutive term with over 8,000 people in attendance at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, 30 May.
Along with the 57 cabinet ministers, 9 Ministers of State (independent charge) and 24 Ministers of State under them also took oath.
Soon after President Ram Nath Kovind administered oath to Modi and the council of ministers, Modi described his new council of ministers as a “blend of youthful energy and administrative experience.”
In a conversation with BloombergQuint’s Harsha Subramaniam, Editorial Director at Quintillion Media Sanjay Pugalia, said the cabinet is a reflection of an aggressive, all-encompassing diplomacy of Modi one is likely to see in the next five years.
BJP President Amit Shah who spearheaded BJP's campaigning is the most important new induction in the cabinet, along with former foreign secretary S Jaishankar.
“With Amit Shah joining the Cabinet, who is mostly likely to get finance ministry... there is going to be strongly pro-poor and pro-market. Another big surprise is S Jaishankar as cabinet minister.”Sanjay Pugalia, Ediotorial Director at Quintillion Media
Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, JP Nadda, Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Mahesh Sharma are among the notable omissions in the BJP-led NDA's second innings.
“Most old ministers are back, so there is a strong continuity message as far as the senior cabinet ministers are concerned. Piyush Goyal to Javadekar to Ravi Shankar Prasad to Smriti Irani...The new ministers are younger with the background of ABVP,” Pugalia said.
Further, Pugalia said, the allocation of cabinet berth indicates that it is all about expanding the BJP base. “The politics so far was that there is a Reddy party, Yadav Party, Jat party, Maratha party. That balancing has been done at a large scale,” Pugalia said.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)