There is no Muslim in the Union Cabinet of India

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Elected leader of the BJP-led NDA parliamentary party, Narendra Modi said the alliance’s ideology and policy is ‘Sarvapantha Samabhav’, meaning all religions as one. Don’t discriminate. Walk with everyone. He said, this coalition government will continue with faith in that principle. Will proceed in the coming days.

48 hours after the assurance given in the central hall of the old parliament building last Friday, not a single Muslim was included in the 72-member cabinet that was formed on Sunday evening. While there are five ministers from minority communities, none of the coalition partners has made a Muslim a minister. This is the first time that any swearing-in ceremony of the Union Cabinet has been non-Muslim.

Narendra Modi’s first cabinet was not so Muslim-free. Najma Heptullah was sworn in as Modi’s cabinet after winning the Lok Sabha in 2014 on a single-seat basis. Modi gave him the charge of minority affairs ministry. Even in 2019, the first oath of the cabinet was not Muslim-free. BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Mushtaq Abbas Naqvi was sworn in as the minister. He was also given the charge of Minority Affairs Ministry vacated by Najma.

Mushtaq Abbas Naqvi’s Rajya Sabha term ends on July 6, 2022. Since then BJP has not made him a member. Since then the doors of Modi’s cabinet have also been closed to Muslims.

It is well known that Muslims have no place in Modi’s BJP. Everyone knows how he equated Congress and Muslims in various public meetings in this election campaign. He saw the shadow of the Muslim League in the Congress election manifesto. He also said that the Congress would take the property of others and distribute it among the Muslims. When he said these things, he had no idea that his team would stop 32 steps away from absolute supremacy. Forced to form the government, he now has to talk about ‘Equality in all ways’. However, not even a single Muslim was given a place in the cabinet.

According to a political commentator on condition of anonymity, if there was such an urge and desire, the ‘official’ could have brought someone from among Muslims (pro-government) in the cabinet. Later they could be won from the Rajya Sabha. But Modi never felt that urge.

78 Muslim candidates contested this election. 24 of them won. Out of these 24, 21 are from ‘India’ alliance. One of the remaining three is Asauddin Weisi of AIMIM, Hyderabad. The other two are independent candidates Engineer Rashid and Mohammad Hanifa from Kashmir Valley.
This time five people from minority communities have become ministers. Among them, Hardeep Puri and Ravneet Singh Bittu belong to the Sikh religion. George Curien Christian. Ramdas Atwale and Kiren Rijiju are Buddhists.

During the Congress-led UPA governments in 2004 and 2009, the number of Muslim ministers was four and five respectively. Before that, BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah were members of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet in 1999.

BJP leader Mushtaq Abbas Naqvi, whose ministry ended under Modi, was also a minister in the Vajpayee cabinet in 1998. From that perspective, the oath of the cabinet this time was rare.

Source: prothomalo

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