An analysis of Cabinet ministers and ministers of state (independent charge) since May 2014 shows that the home, finance, defence and external affairs have been the most stable portfolios. Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh is the only minister to have remained a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security since 2014 while Nitin Gadkari has retained the road transport and highways portfolio throughout the period.
Amit Shah is the longest-serving home minister while S Jaishankar is the longest-serving standalone external affairs minister. Only Jawaharlal Nehru held the external affairs portfolio for a longer period while simultaneously serving as the prime minister.
Nirmala Sitharaman became the first finance minister to present eight consecutive Union budgets while Rajnath is the second longest-serving defence minister. Changes in the finance and defence ministries during the first Modi government were largely necessitated by Arun Jaitley’s prolonged illness and Manohar Parrikar’s return to Goa as chief minister.
Since 2014, Modi government has undertaken five reshuffles, with the last major exercise taking place in July 2021. Since then, there has been only one portfolio change in 2023.
I&B ministry has seen the highest turnover, changing hands seven times since 2014 – from Prakash Javadekar (MoS-independent charge) to Arun Jaitley (additional charge), Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (independent charge), Javadekar again, Anurag Thakur and now Ashwini Vaishnaw. No minister has completed full tenure during the last two BJP-led NDA governments in the ministry.
The rural development ministry witnessed five changes, beginning after the death of Gopinath Munde in 2014. Gadkari briefly held additional charge before Birender Singh, Narendra Singh Tomar, Giriraj Singh, and now Shivraj Singh Chouhan successively handled the portfolio. Giriraj Singh was the only minister to complete the full 2019-24 term.
The law and justice ministry has changed hands four times – from Ravi Shankar Prasad to Sadananda Gowda, Prasad again, then Kiren Rijiju, and now Arjun Ram Meghwal. While no minister completed a full government term, Prasad held the portfolio continuously for nearly five years between 2016 and 2021 across two Modi governments.
The environment, forest and climate change ministry has also had four ministers, with changes partly prompted by the death of Anil Madhav Dave.
The education ministry has had four ministers since 2014 – Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, Ramesh Pokhriyal and Dharmendra Pradhan. Although no minister completed an entire five-year term, Pradhan has held the portfolio continuously since July 2021 across the second and third Modi governments.
The civil aviation ministry has changed hands four times – from Ashok Gajapathi Raju to Suresh Prabhu, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and now Ram Mohan Naidu. Both the civil aviation and food processing industries ministries have largely been used to accommodate NDA allies. The culture ministry has witnessed four ministers, while the tourism ministry has seen five changes since 2014.
No minister completed the full tenure of either 2014-19 or 2019-24 governments in the I&B, law and justice, environment, civil aviation, culture or tourism ministries. The education ministry also saw no minister serve a full five-year term.
The data suggests that while the BJP-led NDA government has largely insulated its core strategic ministries from frequent reshuffles, portfolios linked to communication, law, social sectors have experienced comparatively higher churn over the past 11 years.
