Modi 2.0 – the gang of six

From the giant killer in Amethi to two first-term MPs, the Modi 2.0 has six women in the council of ministers but the Prime Minister gave a surprise by omitting senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Maneka Gandhi from his team.

Three out of the six women ministers – Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Harsimrat Kaur – returned to the Cabinet. In the outgoing government, there were six women Cabinet ministers.

Two new faces – West Bengal MP Debasree Chaudhuri and Chhattisgarh MP Renuka Singh – also joined the government as Ministers of State. Niranjan Jyoti (BJP), who created a controversy in her first term with her remarks 'ramzada and haramzada' (sons of Ram and illegitimately born) also was sworn in again.

However, the omissions attracted more eye-balls. While the absence of Swaraj, whose name was speculated throughout the day by media, could be attributed to her not contesting the Lok Sabha election, she had said that she had not retired from active politics.

The decision leave Maneka out of the government is seen as the result of her strained relationship with the BJP top leadership. Uma Bharti, who was in the outgoing Cabinet, also did not contest.

Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel, who is a Minister of State in the outgoing Ministry, also did not find a place in Modi's team.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes for expansion later, the number of women in the Council of Ministers could go further up. The incoming Parliament has a record number of 78 women MPs, with BJP having 41.

Over the years, the number of women ministers are increasing but under Modi, there were more women Cabinet ministers and since September 2017, there were two women in Cabinet Committee of Security. Another woman minister Krishna Raj was denied ticket.

Irani (43), who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his pocket borough, will be the glamour star among the women ministers. She was inducted in the Cabinet in 2014 and was given Ministry of Human Resources and Development but was later shifted to Ministry of Textiles.

This time Irani, who came to limelight through her role in TV soap opera 'Kyon Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', is expected to get a plum portfolio.

While the number of women ministers are slowly increasing, India has a long way to go as there are at least nine countries where 50% or more women are in ministerial positions. Spain with 64.7% of women ministers is at the top followed by Nicaragua (55.6%) and Sweden (54.4%).