Caste is the single most important factor in Indian politics, even if the BJP would like us to believe otherwise. Gujarat has been a notorious laboratory for all social engineering and experiments since the conception of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
Today, the BJP in Gujarat overhauled its cabinet. Out of 16 ministers in the earlier cabinet, only four have been retained. There are 17 new faces in the cabinet.
Certain aspects about the new Gujarat cabinet stand out, with the most dominant being the fact that the singular factor governing a person’s induction into the cabinet has been caste. The socially influential Patel community walked away with the highest number of berths. Out of the 26-member Gujarat cabinet, eight ministers, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, are Patels.
Ignoring the Patels could be fraught with risk. The BJP has learned this in the past, with the party having to replace their Patel Chief Minister Anandiben following a Patel rebellion led by Hardik Patel.
Hardik Patel, who was expecting to be inducted into the ministry, has not been considered in the latest reshuffle. After the Patidar agitation, he had joined the Congress but later switched to the BJP.
The Patel ministers now in the Gujarat cabinet include Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, Jitu Vaghani, Rishikesh Patel, Praful Panseriya, Kantilal Amrutiya, Kaushik Vekaria, and Kamlesh Patel. That caste has been the only criterion is evident in the fact that senior Patel leader Kantilal Amrutiya of Morbi had earlier served a prison term after being accused in a murder case.
Earlier, the Bhupendra Patel cabinet had 16 ministers excluding him. The new cabinet has been expanded to the maximum ministerial size permitted by law. This means that since Gujarat has 182 MLAs, the cabinet size cannot exceed 27. The new Gujarat cabinet now has 26 ministers, including the Chief Minister.
After the Patels, OBCs are the most prominent in the new Gujarat cabinet. OBCs constitute over 49 per cent of Gujarat’s population. Though larger in number than Patels, who form 15 per cent of the population, Patels are financially stronger, resulting in both communities receiving an almost equal share.
The cabinet comprises eight Patels and seven OBC representatives, reflecting their relative political weight. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up about seven and 14.7 per cent of the population respectively. The cabinet has seven ST and SC faces. It must be noted that there are 13 Assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 27 reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Gujarat.
The new cabinet has seven ministers representing these communities. Jains form about 13.02 per cent of Gujarat’s population. They are a financially strong community. The new cabinet includes a Deputy Chief Minister, Harsh Sanghavi, representing the community.
It must be noted that although Harsh was born in 1985 (he is 40 years old) and comes from a wealthy family, he is educated only up to the 8th standard. He is a seasoned politician, and this is his third term in the Gujarat Assembly.
Gujarat will have local body elections in the first quarter of 2026 and go to Assembly polls in 2027. This cabinet expansion is being viewed in the context of rejuvenating the party ahead of the elections.
As a sub-text, a shift in the party’s dynamics is evident. The BJP is known to keep its cards close to its chest. Now, the party seems to have shed the air of mystery, with names being announced and information about new ministers being leaked. The fact that Bhupendra Patel was expected to submit the new list of ministers to Governor Acharya Devvrat late on Thursday suggests that the party was coordinating developments more openly than usual.
In the new cabinet, one new minister, Arjun Modhvadia, is a former Congressman. Another former minister who had earlier been with the Congress, Kunwarji Bavalia, has been retained. Except for these two, all other ministers have a BJP background. Of the 10 ministers dropped, two — Balwantsinh Rajput and Raghavji Patel — had a Congress background.
The norm in Gujarat has been that the BJP lures senior leaders from the Congress. They are made ministers but later dropped. This includes Jawahar Chavda, Hakubha aka Dharmendra Jadeja, and Brijesh Merja in the past.
Raghavji Patel and Balwantsinh Rajput now join this list. Kunwarji Bavalia is a Koli by caste. A senior BJP leader told vibesofindia.com that Bavalia’s, inclusion in the cabinet is more of a compulsion due to his caste and clout. Usually, the BJP does not prefer to give original Congressmen a second ministerial term.
The most notable addition to the cabinet is Riva Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. A mechanical engineer by education, Riva, who is 34 years old, is a first-time MLA. It must be emphasised that not a single woman holds cabinet rank in the new Gujarat ministry.
Three women — Darshana Vaghela, Manisha Vakil, and Riva Jadeja — are all Ministers of State. The total women’s representation in the new Gujarat cabinet is 11.1 per cent.
Two Rajputs and one Brahmin also find a place in the Bhupendra Patel cabinet. Bhavnagar district in Saurashtra has two ministers in the cabinet: Jitu Vaghani and Purshottam Solanki. Rajkot, the largest and most prominent city in Saurashtra, does not have any representation. Jayesh Radadiya was earlier speculated to get a plum ministerial berth. He has, however, not been accommodated.
His father, who was earlier associated with the Congress, changed parties. Jayesh’s co-operative politics, where he is believed to have hobnobbed with some Congressmen, could be reasons the Patel leader was not considered. However, he is close to Home Minister Amit Shah, who calls all the shots in Gujarat. He may be given a good position in the future.
The new Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, Harsh Sanghavi, earlier groomed by former Gujarat BJP president CR Patil, is now also believed to be close to Amit Shah.
Another striking aspect is that till now, since Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister in 2001, all political decisions were shrouded in mystery. Even when Bhupendra Patel became the Chief Minister, an announcement was made with no one aware about who would replace Vijay Rupani. However, this time all names were nearly predictable and media for a change was not proven wrong.
Also Read: Gujarat CM Expands Cabinet, Harsh Sanghavi Deputy Chief Minister https://www.vibesofindia.com/gujarat-cm-expands-cabinet-harsh-sanghavi-deputy-chief-minister/
