Caravan News
NEW DELHI – Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is only Muslim in the Narendra Modi cabinet, got the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government.
Naqvi is a two-time Rajya Sabha MP. The 62-year-old is a prominent Muslim face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand in 2016. Born in Allahabad, Naqvi was just 17 when he was detained at Naini Central Jail under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency in 1975. However, it was not the only time Naqvi was imprisoned. He went to jail over three dozen times for several national movements.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Rampur in 1998. He served as minister of state for information and broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and as minister of state for minority and parliamentary affairs in the first Modi government.
After Najma Heptulla’s resignation on July 12, 2016, he got independent charge of the ministry of minority affairs. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in 2010, and then again in 2016 from Jharkhand.
He has served as vice-president, general secretary and spokesman of the BJP.
Here is a list of ministers and their portfolios in PM Modi’s cabinet:
Cabinet Ministers
1. Narendra Modi – Prime Minister, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space
2. Rajnath Singh – Minister of Defence
3. Amit Shah – Minister of Home Affairs.
4. Nitin Gadkari – Minister of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
5. DV Sadananda Gowda – Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
6. Nirmala Sitharaman – Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
7. Ramvilas Paswan – Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
8. Narendra Singh Tomar – Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj.
9. Ravi Shankar Prasad Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
10. Harsimrat Kaur Badal – Minister of Food Processing Industries.
11. Thaawar Chand Gehlot – Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
12. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar – Minister of External Affairs.
13. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ – Minister of Human Resource Development.
14. Arjun Munda – Minister of Tribal Affairs.
15. Smriti Irani – Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
16. Dr. Harsh Vardhan – Minister of Health and Family Welfare;Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.
17. Prakash Javadekar – Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
18. Piyush Goyal – Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
19. Dharmendra Pradhan – Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
20. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi – Minister of Minority Affairs.
21. Pralhad Joshi – Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.
22. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey – Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
23. Arvind Ganpat Sawant – Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise
24. Giriraj Singh – Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
25. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat – Minister of Jal Shakti
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1. Santosh Kumar Gangwar – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment
2. Rao Inderjit Singh – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning.
3. Shripad Naik – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.
4. Dr. Jitendra Singh – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office; Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; and Minister of State in the Department of Space.
5. Kiren Rijiju – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs
6. Prahalad Singh Patel – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.
7. Raj Kumar Singh – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
8. Hardeep Singh Puri – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
9. Mansukh L. Mandaviya – Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Ministers of State
1. Faggansingh Kulaste – Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel
2. Ashwini Kumar Choubey – Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
3. Arjun Ram Meghwal – Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
4. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh – Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
5. Krishan Pal – Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
6. Danve Raosaheb Dadarao – Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
7. G Kishan Reddy – Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs
8. Parshottam Rupala – Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
9. Ramdas Athawale – Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowermen
10. Niranjan Jyoti – Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development
11. Babul Supriyo – Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
12. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan – Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
13. Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao – Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development; Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
14. Anurag Singh Thakur – Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
15. Angadi Suresh Channabasappa – Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways
16. Nityanand Rai – Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs
17. Rattan Lal Kataria – Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
18. V Muraleedharan – Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
19. Renuka Singh Saruta – Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affair
20. Som Parkash – Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
21. Rameswar Teli – Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries
22. Pratap Chandra Sarangi – Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
23. Kailash Choudhary -Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
24. Debasree Chaudhuri – Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development