INDEX: KNOW YOUR MANTRI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has returned to power and has a strong mandate to continue to implement the development model he promised in 2014. The new Modi cabinet is leaner and most of the excitement has been focused on BJP president Amit Shah’s induction as the home minister (see Cover Story, page 26). Less discussed, perhaps, are the criminal cases against almost 40 per cent of the ministers. Some of these charges are serious, like fomenting communal conflict. Junior minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi, for example, recipient of much social media ardour for his thatched roof home and choice of transport, a bicycle, is now dealing with mainstream media attention on his Bajrang Dal activism. He has earlier been investigated in connection with the murder of a Christian missionary and his two sons—links that remain unsubstantiated and that Sarangi rejects.
56
ministers in Narendra Modi’s new cabinet, down from 64 (2014)
39%
of ministers, 22/56, have declared ongoing criminal proceedings against them, up from 20 (31%) in 2014, says Association for Democratic Reforms
16
ministers (28.6%) face “serious” charges, compared with 11 (17.2%) in 2014
7
cases against Pratap Chandra Sarangi, one of 6 ministers battling charges of spreading communal disharmony and outraging religious feelings
3
ministers face charges of electoral violations—including illegal payments, bribery and exercising “undue influence”
233
or 43% newly elected Lok Sabha MPs battling criminal cases, compared with 185 (34%) in 2014 and 162 (30%) in 2009
116
of 303 BJP MPs and 29 of 52 Congress MPs fighting criminal cases; one Congress MP from Kerala faces 204 charges