Modi 3.0 Cabinet: A Mosaic of Representation Reflecting India’s Diversity

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi on June 9 was sworn in as the prime minister for the third consecutive term. Along with him, 71 ministers also took oath office. This time, the highest number of ministers were sworn in compared to 2014 and 2019, meaning that in order to accommodate allies in the coalition government of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Modi had to expand his Cabinet.

After the formation of the Cabinet, people are eager to know which MP from their community has found a place in the new government.

It is now clear that after the formation of PM Modi’s new Cabinet, attention has been clearly paid to caste equations. Due to the declining seats of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and decisive losses in several states, it was also necessary for the party to focus on caste mathematics.

However, it is believed that this time Dalit voters were upset with the BJP, which the saffron party had to bear in the form of its decisive defeat in Uttar Pradesh. Now, while rectifying this mistake, work has been done in this Cabinet to give proper place to all communities.

In Modi 3.0’s Cabinet, there are a total of 30 ministers — 36 MoS and five with independent charge. It has been ensured that through all these ministers, representation of all states as well as all communities is covered.

In Modi’s new Cabinet, there are 21 Savarna (upper caste), 27 OBC, 10 SC, 5 ST and 5 minority community ministers. It is noteworthy that there is not a single Muslim minister in the newly constituted central Cabinet.

This time, the BJP failed to cross the majority mark on its own, which is why 11 allied parties had to be accommodated in the Cabinet. There are 43 newly-appointed ministers, who have served in Parliament for three or more terms, along with 39 ministers who have previously served in the Indian government.

In addition, six former chief ministers and 23 ministers from 23 states have also been included in the Cabinet.

Ministers from “Upper Castes”

Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Mansukh Mandaviya, Rajnath Singh, Jitin Prasada, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ravneet Bittu, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Manohar Lal Khattar, Jitendra Singh, Sanjay Seth, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ram Mohan Naidu, JP Nadda, Giriraj Singh, Sukant Majumdar, Lallan Singh and Satish Chandra Dubey — all belonging to “upper castes” — have been appointed as ministers.

OBC Ministers

They include Jayant Chaudhary, Pankaj Chaudhary, Anupriya Patel, Raksha Khadse, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ravindrajit Singh, Krishnapal Gurjar, Bhupendra Yadav, Annapurna Devi, HD Kumaraswamy and Nityanand Rai.

Ministers from Dalit and Tribal Communities

With an aim to woo Dalit voters, who are said to have caused a big loss to the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh, SP Baghel, Kamesh Paswan, Ajay Tamta, Ramdas Athawale, Ram Nath Thakur, Savitri Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chirag Paswan and Ramnath Thakur have been included as ministers.

Young leaders, such as Shripad Yeso Naik and Sarbananda Sonowal, have also been given attention.

Thakur-Brahmin-Yadav Combination

If we analyze the newly constituted Cabinet, keeping in mind the sub-castes, three Thakurs, six Brahmins, three Dalits, one tribal, two Sikhs, two Bhumihars, two Yadavs, two Patidars, one Vokalinga and one Khatri MP have found a place in the Cabinet.

In 2014, 46 ministers had taken oath of the office. The number increased to 52 in 2019. This time, a record 72 ministers have taken the oath. It means that the size of the Cabinet has increased to accommodate allies.