Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bigwig, Amit Shah, who held the Home Ministry portfolio in the previous cabinet, has been retained as the Home Minister in the new cabinet. Amit Shah took oath, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and his colleagues, including Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman, Dr S Jaishankar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and other ministers from BJP and its allies, on Sunday.
Amit Shah has been credited widely for the BJP’s phenomenal growth, and his role in leading the party in the 2014 and 2019 elections. He had moved away from the party’s leadership role after the 2019 election when he was given the Home Ministry portfolio.
Shah is known for his political acumen and his strategic prowess. Under his leadership as the party’s general secretary, BJP won 73 seats from Uttar Pradesh in 2014. He was named the BJP President in 2014 and was the youngest president of the party at 49 years. In 2019, he was one of the youngest ministers to hold the Home Ministry portfolio at 54 years.
AMIT SHAH: BJP’S ‘CHANAKYA’
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shah won from the Gandhinagar seat by 7.44 lakh votes, which is one of the highest this election. In 2019 too, he had won with a large margin of 5.5 lakh votes. The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat was represented in the past by LK Advani.
Shah was born into a Gujarati family in 1964. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the age of 16. His political journey started early with his joining the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He soon climbed the ranks and transitioned into mainstream politics in 1987.
Amit Shah also served as chief campaigner and election strategist to stalwarts such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.
In his tenure as the BJP president from 2014 to 2019, the party witnessed significant victories as well as growth across various states. In his tenure as the Home Minister in the second Modi government, Shah brought in the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Shah also introduced Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, which are aimed at modernising and replacing outdated British-era legislation and replacing the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act. These laws are scheduled to come into effect on July 1, 2024.