Amit Shah's Unbroken Tenure: BJP's Chanakya Retains Home Ministry

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's close confidant and Gujarat strongman Amit Shah has retained his position as the Union Home Minister in the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Known for his aggressive politics, Shah has been a key figure in the BJP for decades and has been the country's home minister since 2019.

After the announcement, Shah took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, “Gratitude to PM Shri @narendramodi Ji for reposing trust and reassigning me the roles of Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation. In Modi 3.0, the MHA will continue to accelerate and strengthen security initiatives and introduce new approaches to realise PM Modi's vision of a secure Bharat. Under the astute leadership of Modi Ji, the Ministry of Cooperation will remain committed to empowering farmers and villages with the vision of 'Sahakaar Se Samriddhi.”

Shah has been the most trusted aide of PM Modi since the 1990s when both were party workers. In the 2024 general elections, Shah won the Gandhinagar seat with more than 7,4 lakh seats while PM Modi himself won the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.

Shah had handled the portfolio as Finance Minister in Gujarat when Modi was the chief minister of the state. Born on 22 October 1964, in Mumbai, Amit Shah's political journey began in the early 1980s when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organisation. 

His association with the RSS paved the way for his entry into the BJP, where he quickly ascended the ranks due to his organisational skills and dedication. Shah's close association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi dates back to the 1990s when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and Shah served as a minister in the state government.

Shah's tenure as the BJP President from 2014 to 2020 was marked by significant electoral successes, including the party's landslide victories in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. As the Home Minister, Shah has overseen several controversial initiatives such as the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which aims to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries and in implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to address illegal immigration.