The Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister Hindi: Videsh Mantri) is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Foreign Minister is to represent India and its government in the international community. The Foreign Minister also plays an important role in determining Indian foreign policy. Occasionally, the Foreign Minister is assisted by a Minister of State for External Affairs or the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of External Affairs.
| Minister of External Affairs | |
|---|---|
| Videsh Mantrī | |
 | |
 | |
| Ministry of External Affairs | |
| Abbreviation | EAM |
| Member of | Cabinet of India Cabinet Committee on Security |
| Reports to | President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India |
| Appointer | President of India on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India |
| Formation | 1947 |
| First holder | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Deputy | Minister of State for External Affairs |
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India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, also held the Foreign Minister post throughout his 17-year premiership of the country; he remains the country's longest-serving Foreign Minister. Several other Prime Ministers have since held the additional charge of foreign minister, but never has any other cabinet minister held additional charge of the office -- although during Nehru's premiership V. K. Krishna Menon was acknowledged as de facto Foreign Minister beyond his official designation as Defence Minister. There have been a number of Foreign Ministers who went on to become the Prime Minister like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, P. V. Narasimha Rao and I. K. Gujral.
The current Minister of External Affairs is Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, succeeding Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 May 2019.
Cabinet Ministers edit
Note: † Died or assassinated in office
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations | |||||||||
| 1 |  | Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MCA for United Provinces (Prime Minister) | 15 August 1947 | 26 January 1950 | 2 years, 164 days | Indian National Congress | Nehru I | Self | |
| Minister of External Affairs | |||||||||
| (1) | | Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MCA for United Provinces (till 1952) MP for Phulpur (from 1952) (Prime Minister) | 26 January 1950 | 27 May 1964[†] | 14 years, 122 days | Indian National Congress | Nehru I | Self | |
| Nehru II | |||||||||
| Nehru III | |||||||||
| Nehru IV | |||||||||
| 2 |  | Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha (Acting Prime Minister) | 27 May 1964 | 9 June 1964 | 13 days | Nanda I | Self | ||
| 3 | .jpg) | Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad (Prime Minister) | 9 June 1964 | 17 July 1964 | 38 days | Shastri | Lal Bahadur Shastri | ||
| 4 |  | Swaran Singh (1907–1994) MP for Jullundur | 17 July 1964 | 11 January 1966 | 2 years, 120 days | ||||
| 11 January 1966 | 24 January 1966 | Nanda II | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) | ||||||
| 24 January 1966 | 14 November 1966 | Indira I | Indira Gandhi | ||||||
| 5 |  | M. C. Chagla (1900–1981) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra | 14 November 1966 | 13 March 1967 | 295 days | ||||
| 13 March 1967 | 5 September 1967 | Indira II | |||||||
| 6 |  | Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli (Prime Minister) | 6 September 1967 | 13 February 1969 | 1 year, 160 days | ||||
| 7 |  | Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) MP for Pratapgarh | 14 February 1969 | 27 June 1970 | 1 year, 133 days | Indian National Congress (R) | |||
| (4) | | Swaran Singh (1907–1994) MP for Jullundur | 27 June 1970 | 18 March 1971 | 4 years, 105 days | ||||
| 18 March 1971 | 10 October 1974 | Indira III | |||||||
| 8 |  | Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP for Satara | 10 October 1974 | 24 March 1977 | 2 years, 165 days | ||||
| 9 | .jpg) | Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for New Delhi | 26 March 1977 | 28 July 1979 | 2 years, 124 days | Janata Party | Desai | Morarji Desai | |
| 10 |  | Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1920–2004) MP for Begusarai | 28 July 1979 | 14 January 1980 | 170 days | Janata Party (Secular) | Charan Singh | Charan Singh | |
| 11 | (2).jpg) | P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Hanamkonda | 14 January 1980 | 19 July 1984 | 4 years, 187 days | Indian National Congress (I) | Indira IV | Indira Gandhi | |
| (6) | | Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Medak (Prime Minister) | 19 July 1984 | 31 October 1984† | 104 days | ||||
| 12 |  | Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi (Prime Minister) | 31 October 1984 | 31 December 1984 | 328 days | Rajiv I | Rajiv Gandhi | ||
| 31 December 1984 | 24 September 1985 | Rajiv | |||||||
| 13 |  | Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah | 24 September 1985 | 12 May 1986 | 230 days | ||||
| 14 | .jpg) | P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat | 12 May 1986 | 22 October 1986 | 163 days | ||||
| 15 |  | N. D. Tiwari (1925–2018) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh | 22 October 1986 | 25 July 1987 | 276 days | ||||
| (12) | | Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) MP for Amethi (Prime Minister) | 25 July 1987 | 25 June 1988 | 336 days | ||||
| (11) | | P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Ramtek | 25 June 1988 | 2 December 1989 | 1 year, 160 days | ||||
| 16 | .jpg) | V. P. Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur (Prime Minister) | 2 December 1989 | 5 December 1989 | 3 days | Janata Dal | Vishwanath | V. P. Singh | |
| 17 |  | Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Jalandhar | 5 December 1989 | 10 November 1990 | 340 days | ||||
| 18 |  | Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister) | 10 November 1990 | 21 November 1990 | 11 days | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | Chandra Shekhar | Chandra Shekhar | |
| 19 | .jpg) | Vidya Charan Shukla (1929–2013) MP for Mahasamund | 21 November 1990 | 20 February 1991 | 91 days | ||||
| (18) | | Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister) | 20 February 1991 | 21 June 1991 | 121 days | ||||
| 20 | Madhavsinh Solanki (1927–2021) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat | 21 June 1991 | 31 March 1992 | 284 days | Indian National Congress (I) | Rao | P. V. Narasimha Rao | ||
| 11 | | P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister) | 31 March 1992 | 18 January 1993 | 293 days | ||||
| (7) | | Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh | 18 January 1993 | 10 February 1995 | 2 years, 23 days | ||||
| 21 | .jpg) | Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) Rajya MP for West Bengal | 10 February 1995 | 16 May 1996 | 1 year, 96 days | ||||
| (9) | | Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister) | 16 May 1996 | 21 May 1996 | 5 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee I | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |
| 22 |  | Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh | 21 May 1996 | 1 June 1996 | 11 days | ||||
| (17) | | Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar (Prime Minister from 21 April 1997) | 1 June 1996 | 21 April 1997 | 1 year, 290 days | Janata Dal | Deve Gowda | H. D. Deve Gowda | |
| 21 April 1997 | 18 March 1998 | Gujral | Self | ||||||
| (9) | | Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister) | 19 March 1998 | 5 December 1998 | 261 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee II | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |
| 23 |  | Jaswant Singh (1938–2020) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan | 5 December 1998 | 13 October 1999 | 3 years, 208 days | ||||
| 13 October 1999 | 1 July 2002 | Vajpayee III | |||||||
| 24 |  | Yashwant Sinha (born 1937) MP for Hazaribagh | 1 July 2002 | 22 May 2004 | 1 year, 326 days | ||||
| 25 |  | K. Natwar Singh (born 1929) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan | 23 May 2004 | 6 November 2005 | 1 year, 167 days | Indian National Congress | Manmohan I | Manmohan Singh | |
| 26 |  | Manmohan Singh (born 1932) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam (Prime Minister) | 6 November 2005 | 24 October 2006 | 352 days | ||||
| (21) | | Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) MP for Jangipur | 24 October 2006 | 22 May 2009 | 2 years, 210 days | ||||
| 27 | _(cropped).jpg) | S. M. Krishna (born 1932) Rajya Sabha MP for Karnataka | 23 May 2009 | 28 October 2012 | 3 years, 158 days | Manmohan II | |||
| 28 | .jpg) | Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad | 28 October 2012 | 26 May 2014 | 1 year, 210 days | ||||
| 29 | _(cropped).jpg) | Sushma Swaraj (1952–2019) MP for Vidisha | 26 May 2014 | 30 May 2019 | 5 years, 4 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | Narendra Modi | |
| 30 | _(cropped).jpg) | S. Jaishankar (born 1955) Rajya Sabha MP for Gujarat | 31 May 2019 | Incumbent | 4 years, 359 days | Modi II | |||
Ministers of State edit
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| 1 | .jpg) | Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar | 16 April 1962 | 27 May 1964 | 3 years, 283 days | Indian National Congress | Nehru IV | Jawaharlal Nehru | |
| 27 May 1964 | 9 June 1964 | Nanda I | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) | ||||||
| 15 June 1964 | 11 January 1966 | Shastri | Lal Bahadur Shastri | ||||||
| 11 January 1966 | 24 January 1966 | Nanda II | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) | ||||||
| 2 | | Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh | 24 January 1966 | 13 March 1967 | 1 year, 48 days | Indira I | Indira Gandhi | ||
| 3 | | Bali Ram Bhagat (1922–2011) MP for Arrah | 14 November 1967 | 14 February 1969 | 1 year, 92 days | Indira II | |||
| 4 |  | Surendra Pal Singh (1917–2009) MP for Bulandshahr | 5 February 1973 | 10 October 1974 | 1 year, 247 days | Indian National Congress (R) | Indira III | ||
| 5 |  | Samarendra Kundu (1930–?) MP for Balasore | 14 August 1977 | 28 July 1979 | 1 year, 348 days | Janata Party | Desai | Morarji Desai | |
| 6 | Bedabrata Barua (born 1928) MP for Kaliabor | 4 August 1979 | 14 January 1980 | 163 days | Indian National Congress (Urs) | Charan Singh | Charan Singh | ||
| 7 | .jpg) | A. A. Rahim (1920–1995) MP for Chirayinkil | 2 September 1982 | 31 October 1984 | 2 years, 59 days | Indian National Congress (I) | Indira IV | Indira Gandhi | |
| 8 | .jpg) | Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan | 2 August 1984 | 31 October 1984 | 90 days | ||||
| (7) | | A. A. Rahim (1920–1995) MP for Chirayinkil | 4 November 1984 | 31 December 1984 | 57 days | Rajiv I | Rajiv Gandhi | ||
| (8) | | Ram Niwas Mirdha (1924–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Rajasthan | |||||||
| 9 | Khurshed Alam Khan (1919–2013) MP for Farrukhabad | 31 December 1984 | 25 September 1985 | 268 days | Rajiv II | ||||
| 10 |  | K. R. Narayanan (1921–2005) MP for Ottapalam | 25 September 1985 | 22 October 1986 | 1 year, 27 days | ||||
| 11 |  | Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao | 12 May 1986 | 14 February 1988 | 1 year, 278 days | ||||
| 12 | | K. Natwar Singh (born 1929) MP for Bharatpur | 22 October 1986 | 2 December 1989 | 3 years, 41 days | ||||
| 13 | Kamla Kant Tiwari MP for Buxar | 25 June 1988 | 22 April 1989 | 301 days | |||||
| 14 | .jpg) | Hari Kishore Singh (1934–2013) MP for Sheohar | 23 April 1990 | 10 November 1990 | 201 days | Indian People's Front | Chandra Shekhar | Chandra Shekhar | |
| 15 | | Eduardo Faleiro (born 1940) MP for Mormugao | 21 June 1991 | 18 January 1993 | 1 year, 211 days | Indian National Congress (I) | Rao | P. V. Narasimha Rao | |
| 16 |  | R. L. Bhatia (1920–2021) MP for Amritsar | 2 July 1992 | 16 May 1993 | 318 days | ||||
| 17 | | Salman Khurshid (born 1953) MP for Farrukhabad | 18 January 1993 | 16 May 1996 | 3 years, 119 days | ||||
| 18 | Saleem Iqbal Shervani (born 1953) MP for Badaun | 9 June 1997 | 19 March 1998 | 332 days | Samajwadi Party | Gujral | Inder Kumar Gujral | ||
| 19 | Kamala Sinha (1932–2014) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar | Janata Dal | |||||||
| 20 |  | Vasundhara Raje (born 1953) MP for Jhalawar | 20 March 1998 | 13 October 1999 | 1 year, 207 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Vajpayee II | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |
| 21 | Ajit Kumar Panja (1936–2008) MP for Calcutta North East | 13 October 1999 | 16 March 2001 | 1 year, 154 days | All India Trinamool Congress | Vajpayee III | |||
| 22 |  | Krishnam Raju (1940–2022) MP for Narasapuram | 30 September 2000 | 22 July 2001 | 295 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||
| 23 | .jpg) | Omar Abdullah (born 1970) MP for Srinagar | 22 July 2001 | 23 December 2002 | 1 year, 154 days | Jammu and Kashmir National Conference | |||
| 24 |  | Digvijay Singh (1955–2010) MP for Banka | 1 July 2002 | 22 May 2004 | 1 year, 326 days | Janata Dal (United) | |||
| 25 | .jpg) | Vinod Khanna (1946–2017) MP for Gurdaspur | 29 January 2003 | 22 May 2004 | 1 year, 114 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||
| 26 |  | E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Ponnani | 23 May 2004 | 22 May 2009 | 4 years, 364 days | Indian Union Muslim League | Manmohan I | Manmohan Singh | |
| 27 | _for_Planning_in_May_2014_(cropped).jpg) | Rao Inderjit Singh (born 1951) MP for Mahendragarh | 22 May 2004 | 29 January 2006 | 1 year, 252 days | Indian National Congress | |||
| 28 |  | Anand Sharma (born 1953) Rajya Sabha MP for Himachal Pradesh | 29 January 2006 | 22 May 2009 | 3 years, 113 days | ||||
| 29 |  | Preneet Kaur (born 1944) MP for Patiala | 28 May 2009 | 26 May 2014 | 4 years, 363 days | Manmohan II | |||
| 30 |  | Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) MP for Thiruvananthapuram | 28 May 2009 | 19 April 2010 | 326 days | ||||
| 31 | | E. Ahamed (1938–2017) MP for Malappuram | 19 January 2011 | 26 May 2014 | 3 years, 127 days | Indian Union Muslim League | |||
| 32 | _(cropped).jpg) | General V. K. Singh (Retd.) PVSM AVSM YSM ADC (born 1950) MP for Ghaziabad | 26 May 2014 | 30 May 2019 | 5 years, 4 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi I | Narendra Modi | |
| 33 |  | M. J. Akbar (born 1951) Rajya Sabha MP for Madhya Pradesh | 5 July 2016 | 17 October 2018 | 2 years, 104 days | ||||
| 34 | .jpg) | V. Muraleedharan (born 1958) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra | 31 May 2019 | Incumbent | 4 years, 359 days | Modi II | |||
| 35 | .jpg) | Meenakshi Lekhi (born 1967) MP for New Delhi | 7 July 2021 | 2 years, 322 days | |||||
| 36 |  | Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (born 1952) MP for Inner Manipur | |||||||
Deputy Ministers edit
| No. | Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
| Deputy Minister of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations | |||||||||
| 1 |  | B. V. Keskar (1903–1984) MCA for Madras | 7 December 1948 | 26 January 1950 | 1 year, 50 days | Indian National Congress | Nehru I | Jawaharlal Nehru | |
| Deputy Minister of External Affairs | |||||||||
| (1) | | B. V. Keskar (1903–1984) MCA for Madras | 31 January 1950 | 13 May 1952 | 2 years, 103 days | Indian National Congress | Nehru I | Jawaharlal Nehru | |
| 2 |  | Anil Kumar Chanda (1906–1976) MP for Birbhum | 12 August 1952 | 17 April 1957 | 4 years, 262 days | Nehru II | |||
| 17 April 1957 | 1 May 1957 | Nehru III | |||||||
| 3 | | Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar | 17 April 1957 | 10 April 1962 | 4 years, 358 days | ||||
| 4 | | Dinesh Singh (1925–1995) MP for Pratapgarh | 8 May 1962 | 27 May 1964 | 3 years, 261 days | Nehru IV | |||
| 27 May 1964 | 9 June 1964 | Nanda I | Gulzarilal Nanda | ||||||
| 15 June 1964 | 11 January 1966 | Shastri | Lal Bahadur Shastri | ||||||
| 11 January 1966 | 24 January 1966 | Nanda II | Gulzarilal Nanda | ||||||
| 5 | | Surendra Pal Singh (1917–2009) MP for Bulandshahr | 18 March 1967 | 18 March 1971 | 5 years, 352 days | Indira II | Indira Gandhi | ||
| Indian National Congress (R) | |||||||||
| 18 March 1971 | 5 February 1973 | Indira III | |||||||
| 6 |  | Bipinpal Das (1923–2005) Rajya Sabha MP for Assam | 17 October 1974 | 24 March 1977 | 2 years, 158 days | ||||
| 7 | | Digvijay Singh (1955–2010) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar | 28 November 1990 | 21 June 1991 | 205 days | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | Chandra Shekhar | Chandra Shekhar | |
See also edit
References edit
External links edit
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