NEW DELHI: About 14.2% of India’s total population is Muslim, but not a single Muslim minister has been included in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, as he took oath for a third term as the country’s PM on Sunday.
Indian media reported, Modi’s new government includes around 30 federal ministers and 41 state ministers, which does not include a single Muslim. As per experts and media reports, this is the first time in Indian history that no Muslim MP has taken oath after the polls. Usually, the council of ministers sworn in following every general election would have at least one Muslim Member of Parliament in it.
The absence of Muslim representation in the 18th Lok Sabha is reportedly as no Muslim MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were elected in the recent elections in India.
Out of the 24 MPs elected to the lower house of the parliament, 21 are from the INDIA bloc. And three are from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
The first meeting of the cabinet of the new central government of India will be held this evening. In a shocking outcome, Narendra Modi this time did not win a clear majority as compared to his last two times with the PM having to seek support from allies under the banner of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to retain power.
The outcome of the elections is seen as a major setback to the popular leader as surveys and exit polls had suggested BJP would secure even more seats than last polls.
Earlier, Hindu-extremist leader Narendra Modi was sworn in as Indian Prime Minister on Sunday for a third term following the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won the general election with 293 seats – a much lower margin than earlier predicted, contrary to the 234 seats won by the opposition parties.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath from Narendra Modi at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s palace in New Delhi. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by thousands of dignitaries, including industrialists and Bollywood stars.
Modi, who started as a publicist of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is only the second person after Jawaharlal Nehru to serve a third straight term as prime minister.
