And then there were 24 more: Modi 3.0 cabinet the biggest under the PM till date
New Delhi,Jun 10: There was a time when ‘Minimum government, maximum governance’ was one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s favourite slogans. But in this third term, with the compulsions of coalition politics and also a need to strengthen representation from BJP’s core states taking over, that has been set aside.
The swearing-in on Sunday inducted 71 ministers besides the Prime Minister.
This included 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state (independent charge) and 36 ministers of state.
Narendra Modi (L) looks on as he sits next to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah (2R) and Minister of Home Affairs of India Rajnath Singh (2L) before Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as Indian Prime Minister at the President house in New Delhi.
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Among the 30 cabinet ministers this time around just three were from South India, that is if you include Nirmala Sitharaman who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka.
The TDP’s three-time MP Ram Mohan Naidu and the JD(U)’s ex-Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy were the other two who made it to the ministerial high table.
Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP possibly suffered its biggest shock after being reduced to 33 seats, now has the most number of ministers – 11 – in the cabinet, Bihar has eight, Maharashtra and Gujarat has six and Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh five each.
UP had nine ministers and Bihar five ministers in the 2019 cabinet.
The stat underlines how BJP is hoping to build again and bolster support in the two key states.
The numbers make Modi 3.0 the biggest Modi cabinet ever to be sworn in and is in keeping with a progressive increase in the number of ministers in every term.
The number of ministers has gone up by 24 in 2024.
Narendra Modi (L) looks on as he sits next to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah (2R) and Minister of Home Affairs of India Rajnath Singh (2L) before Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as Indian Prime Minister at the President house in New Delhi.
Refreshing changes in the 18th Lok Sabha
When Modi first became Prime Minister in 2014, his first ministry had 23 cabinet ministers, 12 ministers of state and 10 ministers of state (independent charge). This made a total of 45 ministers excluding the Prime Minister.
In 2019, Modi 2.0 had 24 cabinet ministers, 24 ministers of state and 9 ministers of state (independent charge). All this added up to 57 ministers excluding the Prime Minister.
The cabinet in place, guess what the Prime Minister first did on Monday?
On his favourite iPad, Modi signed a file authorising the release of 17th instalment of the PM Kisan Nidhi. This will benefit 9.3 crore farmers and distribute around Rs 20000 crores, a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office stated.
A focus on welfarism to win back seats lost in Mandate 2024 is expected to one of the big pushes the government is expected to make this time around. If not in actual policies, at least in terms of optics.
The Prime Minister with this move has probably underlined this.
After signing the file, Modi said, “Ours is a Government fully committed to Kisan Kalyan. It is therefore fitting that the first file signed on taking charge is related to farmer welfare. We want to keep working even more for the farmers and the agriculture sector in the times to come.”
Narendra Modi (L) looks on as he sits next to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah (2R) and Minister of Home Affairs of India Rajnath Singh (2L) before Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as Indian Prime Minister at the President house in New Delhi.
-The New Indian Express
