No Muslim MP in the new Council of Ministers in India.
This might be the first time no Muslim MP has been sworn in as a minister after an election.
Interestingly, the previous council of ministers didn’t have a Muslim minister after Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi wasn’t re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.
In the past, the council of ministers sworn in after every general election always included at least one Muslim MP.
When PM Narendra Modi took office for the first time in 2014, Najma Heptulla was sworn in as the minority affairs minister. In 2019, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was given the same role when he was sworn in.
In 2004 and 2009, the Council of Ministers included four and five Muslim MPs respectively. Back in 1999, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had two Muslim ministers, Shahnawaz Hussain and Omar Abdullah.
In 1998, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi served as a minister of state in Vajpayee’s government.
One reason there’s no Muslim representation in the current council of ministers is that no Muslim candidate from NDA allies got elected to the 18th Lok Sabha. Out of the 24 Muslim MPs in the lower House, 21 are from the Indian bloc.
The remaining three are Asaduddin Owaisi from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and two Independents, Abdul Rashid Sheikh (also known as ‘Engineer Rashid’) and Mohmad Haneefa from J&K.
