Minister of Home Affairs (India)

Minister of Home Affairs (Gruha Mantri)
Emblem of India Ministry of Home Affairs
Incumbent Sushilkumar Shinde since 31 July 2012
Department	Ministry of Home Affairs
Appointer	President on the advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Formation	2 September 1946

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The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minister is the maintenance of India's internal security; the country's large police force comes under his ambit. Occasionally, he is assisted by the Minister of State of Home Affairs and the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.

Ever since the time of independent India's first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the office has been seen as second in seniority only to the Prime Minister in the Union Cabinet. Like Patel, several Home Ministers have since held the additional portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister.

Since 31 July 2012, the Home Minister of India is Sushilkumar Shinde of the Indian National Congress party, taking over the reins from P. Chidambaram. Shinde is assisted by Ministers of State R. P. N. Singh and Mullappally Ramachandran.

List of Home Ministers

Name	Portrait	Term of office		Political party (Alliance)	Prime Minister
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel		2 September 1946	15 December 1950	Indian National Congress	Jawaharlal Nehru
C. Rajagopalachari		26 December 1950	25 October 1951
Kailash Nath Katju		1951	1955
Govind Ballabh Pant		1955	1961
Lal Bahadur Shastri		4 April 1961	29 August 1963
Gulzarilal Nanda		29 August 1963	14 November 1966		Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi
Yashwantrao Chavan		14 November 1966	27 June 1970		Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi		27 June 1970	4 February 1973
Uma Shankar Dikshit		4 February 1973	1974
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy		1974	24 March 1977
Charan Singh		24 March 1977	1 July 1978	Janata Party	Morarji Desai
Morarji Desai		1 July 1978	28 July 1979
Yashwantrao Chavan		28 July 1979	14 January 1980	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan Singh
Giani Zail Singh		14 January 1980	22 June 1982	Indian National Congress	Indira Gandhi
R. Venkataraman		22 June 1982	2 September 1982
Prakash Chandra Sethi		2 September 1982	19 July 1984
P. V. Narasimha Rao		19 July 1984	31 December 1984		Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
Shankarrao Chavan		31 December 1984	12 March 1986		Rajiv Gandhi
P. V. Narasimha Rao		12 March 1986	12 May 1986
Sardar Buta Singh		12 May 1986	2 December 1989
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed		1989	10 November 1990	Janata Dal (National Front)	V. P. Singh
Chandra Shekhar		10 November 1990	21 June 1991	Samajwadi Janata Party (National Front)	Chandra Shekhar
Shankarrao Chavan		21 June 1991	16 May 1996	Indian National Congress	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Murli Manohar Joshi		16 May 1996	1 June 1996	Bharatiya Janata Party	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Indrajit Gupta		1 June 1996	19 March 1998	Communist Party of India (United Front)	H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral
L. K. Advani		19 March 1998	22 May 2004	Bharatiya Janata Party (National Democratic Alliance)	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Shivraj Patil		22 May 2004	30 November 2008	Indian National Congress (United Progressive Alliance)	Manmohan Singh
P. Chidambaram		30 November 2008	31 July 2012
Sushilkumar Shinde		31 July 2012	Incumbent

External links

• Home Ministry, Govt. of India