Home Minister of India: The Home Minister, also known as the HM, leads the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Indian government. Their main job is to keep India safe inside its borders, which includes overseeing the country's police force. The Home Minister is one of the most important members of the government, second only to the Prime Minister. Many Home Ministers have also been Deputy Prime Ministers. Some former Home Ministers, like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh, and P. V. Narasimha Rao, later became Prime Minister. L.K. Advani held the position for the longest stretch, from 1998 to 2004.
Sometimes, the Prime Minister also takes on the role of the Home Minister. For example, Jawaharlal Nehru did so briefly in 1950 after Vallabhbhai Patel passed away. Currently, Amit Shah from the Bharatiya Janata Party is the Home Minister, taking over from Rajnath Singh in 2019. P. Chidambaram, who was Home Minister from 2008 to 2012, has the unique distinction of serving in both cabinet minister and minister of state roles in the ministry. He was a minister of state from 1986 to 1989.Home Minister of India List from 1947 to 2024 | |||
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S.N. | Minister’s Name | From | To |
1 | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel | 2 Sep 1946 | 15 Dec 1950 |
2 | C. Rajagopalachari | 26 Dec 1950 | 25 Oct 1951 |
3 | Kailash Nath Katju | 1951 | 1955 |
4 | G. B. Pant | 10 Jan 1955 | 7 Mar 1961 |
5 | Lal Bahadur Shastri | 4 Apr 1961 | 29 Aug 1963 |
6 | Gulzarilal Nanda | 29 Aug 1963 | 14 Nov 1966 |
7 | Yashwantrao Chavan | 14 Nov 1966 | 28 Jul 1979 |
8 | Indira Gandhi | 27 Jun 1970 | 4 Feb 1973 |
9 | Uma Shankar Dikshit | 4 Feb 1973 | 1974 |
10 | Kasu Brahmananda Reddy | 1974 | 24 Mar 1977 |
11 | Charan Singh | 24 Mar 1977 | 1 Jul 1978 |
12 | Morarji Desai | 1 Jul 1978 | 28 Jul 1979 |
13 | Giani Zail Singh | 14 Jan 1980 | 22 Jun 1982 |
14 | Ramaswamy Venkataraman | 22 Jun 1982 | 2 Sep 1982 |
15 | Prakash Chandra Sethi | 2 Sep 1982 | 19 Jul 1984 |
16 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 19 Jul 1984 | 31 Dec 1984 |
17 | Shankarrao Chavan | 31 Dec 1984 | 12 Mar 1986 |
18 | Sardar Buta Singh | 12 May 1986 | 2 Dec 1989 |
19 | Mufti Mohammad Sayeed | 1989 | 10 Nov 1990 |
20 | Chandra Shekhar | 10 Nov 1990 | 21 Jun 1991 |
21 | Murli Manohar Joshi | 16 May 1996 | 1 Jun 1996 |
22 | H. D. Deve Gowda | 1 Jun 1996 | 29 Jun 1996 |
23 | Indrajit Gupta | 29 Jun 1996 | 19 Mar 1998 |
24 | Lal Krishna Advani | 19 Mar 1998 | 22 May 2004 |
25 | Shivraj Patil | 22 May 2004 | 30 Nov 2008 |
26 | P. Chidambaram | 30 Nov 2008 | 31 Jul 2012 |
27 | Sushilkumar Shinde | 31 Jul 2012 | 26 May 2014 |
28 | Rajnath Singh | 26 May 2014 | 30 May 2019 |
29 | Amit Shah | 30 May 2019 | Incumbent |