Knowledge Base Wiki

Search for LIMS content across all our Wiki Knowledge Bases.

Type a search term to find related articles by LIMS subject matter experts gathered from the most trusted and dynamic collaboration tools in the laboratory informatics industry.

Amit Shah
32nd Union Minister of Home Affairs
Assumed office
30 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byRajnath Singh
1st Union Minister of Cooperation
Assumed office
7 July 2021 (2021-07-07)
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byoffice established
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Assumed office
23 May 2019 (2019-05-23)
Preceded byLal Krishna Advani
ConstituencyGandhinagar, Gujarat
Majority744,716 (56.34%)
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
19 August 2017 (2017-08-19) – 29 May 2019 (2019-05-29)
Preceded byDilip Pandya
Succeeded bySubrahmanyam Jaishankar
ConstituencyGujarat
3rd Chairperson of
National Democratic Alliance
Assumed office
9 July 2014 (2014-07-09)
National President
Preceded byL. K. Advani
10th National President of Bharatiya Janata Party
In office
9 July 2014 (2014-07-09) – 20 January 2020 (2020-01-20)
Preceded byRajnath Singh
Succeeded byJagat Prakash Nadda
Member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly
In office
2012 (2012)–2017 (2017)
Preceded byconstituency established
Succeeded byKaushik Patel
ConstituencyNaranpura
In office
1997 (1997)–2012 (2012)
Preceded byHarishchandra Lavjibhai Patel
Succeeded byconstituency abolished
ConstituencySarkhej
Minister of State, Government of Gujarat
In office
2002 (2002)–2012 (2012)
DepartmentsHome, Law and Justice, Prison, Border Security, Civil Defence, Excise, Home Guards, Transport, Prohibition, Gram Rakshak Dal, Police Housing, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs
Chief MinisterNarendra Modi
Personal details
Born
Amit Anil Chandra Shah

(1964-10-22) 22 October 1964 (age 60)[1]
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
(present-day Mumbai)
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Other political
affiliations
National Democratic Alliance
Spouse
Sonal Shah
(m. 1987)
ChildrenJay Shah (son)
Residence(s)6A, Krishna Menon Marg, New Delhi, Delhi, India
Alma materGujarat University
OccupationPolitician
Websitewww.amitshah.co.in

Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah[2] (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Minister of Co-operation since July 2021. He is also the member of parliament (MP) for Gandhinagar. He served as the 10th president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2014 to 2020. He has also served as chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since 2014. He had been elected as a member of the upper house of parliament, Rajya Sabha, from Gujarat from 2017 to 2019.

A chief strategist of the BJP, he is a close aide to Narendra Modi.[3][4] He was also the member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly from Naranpura from 2012 to 2017 and Sarkhej from 1997 to 2012 and the minister of State for Home, Law and Justice, Prison, Border Security, Civil Defence, Excise, Home Guards, Transport, Prohibition, Gram Rakshak Dal, Police Housing, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, government of Gujarat in the Modi ministry from 2002 to 2012. During his college days, Shah was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). At the age of 18, he secured a position in the ABVP and joined the BJP in 1987.

Shah was the BJP's in-charge for India's largest and politically most crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP-led NDA won 73 out of 80 seats. As a result, Shah rose to national prominence and was appointed as the party's national president in July 2014.[5] He has played an organising and membership-promotional role in the elections of many states since 2014. In his initial two years, the BJP achieved success in legislative assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Assam but lost ground in Delhi and the large eastern state of Bihar in 2015.

In 2017, he was partly credited with the party victories in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat[6] and Manipur, but the Akali-BJP alliance lost power in the larger Punjab election.[7] In 2018, the party lost power in the states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. A year later, the BJP won 303 seats to get a majority in the 2019 Indian general election under Shah's leadership.[8]

Early life

Shah was born in Mumbai on 22 October 1964.[9][10] He is from a Gujarati Hindu family of the Bania caste.[11][12][13] His great grandfather was the Nagarseth (Capital city chief) of the small state of Mansa.[14] His father, Anil Chandra Shah, a businessman from Mansa, owned a successful PVC pipe business.[15]

He went to school in Mehsana and moved to Ahmedabad to study biochemistry at CU Shah Science College. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science (B.Sc.) in Biochemistry and then worked for his father's business.[15] He also worked as a stockbroker and in co-operative banks in Ahmedabad.[16]

Shah was involved with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood; he participated in the neighbourhood shakhas (branches) as a boy. He formally became an RSS swayamsevak (volunteer) during his college days in Ahmedabad.[11] He first met Narendra Modi in 1982 through the Ahmedabad RSS circles.[11] At that time, Modi was an RSS pracharak (propagator), working as in-charge of youth activities in the city.[15]

Early political career

Entry into politics

Shah started his political career in 1982 after joining the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu volunteer organisation. Soon after, he got acquainted with Narendra Modi, a pracharak (propagator) of the RSS at that time. Reportedly, he was advised by Modi to join the student wing of the RSS, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).[17] Soon after Shah joined the ABVP in the year 1983.[11][18] Later on, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1987, one year before Modi joined the party.[15] He became an activist of the BJP's youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), in 1987. He gradually rose in the BJYM hierarchy, in which he held various posts including ward secretary, taluka secretary, state secretary, vice-president and general secretary.[11] He became known for his management skills when he was the election campaign manager for Lal Krishna Advani in Gandhinagar during the 1991 Lok Sabha elections.[1][19]

In 1995, the BJP formed its first government in Gujarat, with Keshubhai Patel as Chief Minister. At that time, the Indian National Congress, the BJP's main rival, was highly influential in rural Gujarat. Modi and Shah worked together to eliminate Congress in the rural areas. Their strategy was to find the second-most influential leader in every village and get them to join the BJP. They created a network of 8,000 influential rural leaders who had lost elections to the pradhan (village chief) post in various villages.[11]

Modi and Shah used the same strategy to reduce Congress' influence over the state's powerful co-operatives, which played an important role in the state's economy. In 1999, Shah was elected as the president of the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), the biggest cooperative bank in India. In Gujarat, such elections had traditionally been won on caste considerations, and the co-operative banks had traditionally been controlled by Patels, Gaderias and Kshatriyas. Despite not belonging to any of these castes, Shah won the election. At that time, the bank was on the verge of collapse, as they had accumulated losses of 36 crores. Shah turned around the bank's fortune within a year; the following year, the bank registered a profit of 27 crores. By 2014, its profit had increased to around 250 crores.[11] Shah also ensured that 11 of the bank's 22 directors were BJP loyalists.[15]

Modi and Shah also sought to reduce Congress' hold over sports bodies in the state.[11] Shah served as the president of the Gujarat State Chess Association.[18] In 2009, he became the vice-president of the profitable Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), while Modi served as its president.[15] In 2014, after Modi became Prime Minister of India, Shah became the president of GCA.

Modi, who had become a general secretary in the party's state unit by the early 1990s, used his influence to get bigger roles for Shah. He convinced Patel to appoint Shah as the chairman of the Gujarat State Financial Corporation, a public sector financial institution that finances small and medium-scale enterprises. After Shankersinh Vaghela and some other leaders complained about Modi's growing popularity in the Gujarat government, the party leadership moved Modi out of Gujarat to the BJP headquarters in Delhi. During this time (1995–2001), Shah served as Modi's confidante in Gujarat.[15]

In 1997, Modi lobbied to get Shah a BJP ticket for the Gujarat Legislative Assembly by-election in Sarkhej.[20] Shah became an MLA in February 1997 after winning the by-election.[21] He retained his seat in the 1998 Assembly elections.[22]

Gujarat state government

PM Modi addresses a BJP National Council Meeting.

In October 2001, the BJP replaced Keshubhai Patel with Narendra Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat after allegations of inefficient administration. Over the next few years, Modi and Shah gradually sidelined their political rivals.[15]

Shah contested the 2002 Assembly election from the Sarkhej constituency in Ahmedabad. He won by the highest margin among all candidates, with 158,036 votes. He improved his margin of victory in the 2007 Assembly election, in which he won from Sarkhej again.[18]

During Modi's twelve-year tenure as the Gujarat CM, Shah emerged as one of the most powerful leaders in Gujarat. After winning the 2002 elections, he became the youngest minister in the Modi government and was given multiple portfolios.[1] At one time, he held 12 portfolios: Home, Law and Justice, Prison, Border Security, Civil Defence, Excise, Transport, Prohibition, Home Guards, Gram Rakshak Dal, Police Housing and Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs.[15]

In 2004, the Congress-led government announced its intention to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which they called regressive. Shah piloted the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (Amendment) Bill through the Gujarat State Assembly amid an opposition walk-out.[23]

Shah also played an important role in convincing the Modi government to pass the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill, which made religious conversions difficult in the state of Gujarat.[11]

Shah was accused of sidelining the police officers who testified against the Gujarat government in cases related to the fake encounters and the 2002 riots.[15] Shah has also been accused of manipulating the electoral constituency delimitation exercise in Gujarat to favour the BJP.[20]

Sohrabuddin case

Amit Shah and Udit Raj

In 2010, Shah was accused of having orchestrated the extrajudicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and his criminal associate Tulsiram Prajapati.[24][25] According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Sheikh had been harassing some marble traders of Rajasthan by demanding protection money. The CBI claimed that two of these marble traders paid Shah to eliminate Sheikh, along with police officers DIG D.G. Vanzara and SP Rajkumar Pandian.[26][27][28]

The CBI presented phone call records, which showed that Shah had been in touch with the accused police officers when the victims were in their custody. It also presented videotapes of Patel brothers' conversations with two of Shah's associates at the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB).[29] The Patel brothers, who had several criminal cases against them, also spoke against Shah.[30]

Shah dismissed all the accusations against him as politically motivated. He pointed out that during his tenure as Home Minister, Gujarat was one of the states with a small number of police encounters in the country. He stated that he kept in touch with the police officers on the phone in the normal course of his duties as Home Minister.[31] He accused Congress of misusing the CBI and claimed that only the cases in Gujarat were being scrutinised, while the rest of the country had witnessed around 1,500 encounters during the same period.[32] He said if the CBI had any solid evidence against him, it would have been able to frame charges against him.[15] In 2010, Police Commissioner Geetha Johri, who first investigated the case, claimed that the CBI was pressurising her to falsely implicate Shah in the Sohrabuddin case.[33]

D.G. Vanzara was also accused in the Ishrat Jahan case but the CBI did not charge Shah.[34]

Shah was arrested on 25 July 2010 in connection with the Sohrabuddin case. At one time, Shah was considered one of the main contenders for Gujarat Chief Minister. However, his political career was hurt by the arrest; many leaders in the Gujarat government distanced themselves from him. His fellow ministers considered him an autocratic person, who did not have good relations with his colleagues.[18]

When Shah applied for bail, the CBI raised concerns that he would use his political power to prevent justice from taking its course.[15] On 29 October 2010, the Gujarat High Court granted him bail three months after his arrest. However, the next day, when the courts were closed, Justice Aftab Alam took a petition at his residence to bar him from entering Gujarat.[11] Shah was thus forcibly exiled from the state from 2010 to 2012.[15] He and his wife moved to a room in Gujarat Bhavan, Delhi.[11] Later, the Supreme Court cancelled his bail on a CBI plea. In September 2012, the Supreme Court granted him bail and allowed him to return to Gujarat. He then contested and won the 2012 Assembly election from the Naranpura constituency.[18] (The Sarkhej constituency had ceased to exist after delimitation.) In 2014, Shah was effectively discharged from the Sohrabuddin case by a special CBI court noting a lack of evidence and political undertones to the accusations.[35][36]

Snoopgate

In 2013, Shah was accused of having ordered illegal surveillance on a woman in 2009 during his tenure as a home minister. The investigative websites Cobrapost and Gulail released a set of taped audio conversations between Shah and police officer GL Singhal. The tapes had been submitted to the CBI in the Ishrat Jahan case and were leaked to these portals. The calls detail how the state machinery was used to surveil the woman and the IAS officer Pradeep Sharma (who was suspended by the Gujarat government). In the recordings, both Singhal and Shah repeatedly refer to a higher authority as Saheb, which is believed to be Chief Minister Narendra Modi.[37] Shah denied all the accusations against him; he called them political propaganda by his opponents.[15] The BJP's political opponents demanded a probe in the Snoopgate case. However, in May 2014, the woman approached the Supreme Court and stated that the surveillance on her was based on a "personal request",[38] and she was thankful to the Gujarat government for ensuring her safety. She requested the court to block any investigation, stating it would violate her privacy.[39]

Rise in national politics

The Vice-President and chairman, Rajya Sabha, M. Venkaiah Naidu administering the oath as Member, Rajya Sabha to Amit Shah.

After Modi became the prime-ministerial candidate of the BJP, Shah's influence also increased in the party. They had been accused of sidelining other BJP leaders, such as Lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and Jaswant Singh.[15] By this time, Shah had gained recognition as an excellent election campaign manager and was dubbed a "modern-day Chanakya and master strategist".[40] Shah was appointed as a BJP general secretary and given charge of Uttar Pradesh (UP). He was chosen not by Modi, but by Rajnath Singh, who had been impressed by the skills Shah displayed in wresting control of various Congress-controlled organisations in Gujarat.[11] The decision did not go down well with many of the party members, who saw him as a liability owing to the criminal charges against him. Political analysts such as Shekhar Gupta termed the decision as a blunder.[41]

2014 general election campaign

In Uttar Pradesh

Shah's political career, which had declined after his arrest in 2010, revived after the BJP's victory in the 2014 general election. In Uttar Pradesh, where Shah was the in-charge, the BJP and its allies won 73 out of 80 seats. Shah had been made in-charge of the BJP's campaign in Uttar Pradesh on 12 June 2013, less than a year before the elections.[15] Since February 2012, Shah had spent considerable time in Uttar Pradesh, where he tried to understand the reasons for the Samajwadi Party's victory in the 2012 UP Assembly elections. Shah realised the voters were dissatisfied with the Samajwadi Party, which he believed had failed to keep its election promises after the win. He also took advantage of the OBC voters' displeasure with the UP government's decision to create a 4.5% reservation for the minorities within the 27% OBC quota in government jobs and education.[15]

Shah oversaw the candidate selection, emphasising the candidate's local popularity and winning potential as the only criteria for selection, as opposed to the candidate's party loyalty or ideology. His team estimated that only 35% of the BJP's traditional supporters had voted in the UP elections. Therefore, he focused on door-to-door campaigning at the booth-level. He set up a 7-to-10 member management committee for each of the 140,000 voting booths in the state. For each booth, his team collated lists of voters and reached out to them.[15] Shah's team used 450 GPS-enabled mobile vans (video raths) to reach out to the masses in remote areas, where media reach was negligible.[42] Shah covered 76 out of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies. He also insisted on Modi contesting election from Varanasi.[43]

Shah convinced Modi to utilise RSS volunteers for grassroots campaigning, which proved highly beneficial for the BJP.[43] Although the RSS officially were not involved in electioneering, Shah used its volunteers to mobilise and monitor the campaigners. For example, the RSS volunteers would cross-check a BJP worker's claims of having targeted a given number of households.[15] Shah also helped organise "mega rallies" for Modi. Like other major political parties, the BJP provisioned one van per village to transport people to the rally venue. However, unlike others, Shah decided that the BJP would not provide money for hiring these vehicles. Instead, he declared that the party workers organising the transportation would be the leaders of the BJP units in their villages. This strategy ensured several local village leaders developed a stake in Modi's victory.[11]

Critics accused Shah of trying to polarise the UP voters along the religious lines. While visiting Ayodhya for a meeting with the party's local committee, he raised the Ayodhya dispute. The BJP fielded three candidates accused of inciting violence during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. These were seen as attempts to target the party's Hindu nationalist base.[15] An FIR was registered against Shah for a speech in Muzaffarnagar, where he urged the voters to seek "revenge" through their votes.[20] He also took advantage of Shia Muslim antipathy towards Sunni Muslims in Lucknow.[44]

Outside Uttar Pradesh

Shah also played an important role in the BJP's election campaigning strategy outside Uttar Pradesh. He focused on building Modi's image as a strong leader. At times, he opposed even Modi on several strategic campaigning issues. For example, when Modi praised his opponent and prospective post-poll ally Mamata Banerjee, Shah insisted that the BJP must not divert from the "Modi-versus-all" tactic.[43] Shah was also responsible for forging the BJP's alliances with regional parties like Pattali Makkal Katchi.[20]

President of the BJP (2014–2019)

Modi congratulates Shah as he becomes BJP president.

In July 2014, the BJP's central parliamentary board unanimously approved Shah's appointment as president of the party.[45] He was re-elected as the party's president unanimously on 24 January 2016.[46] After becoming the party president, Shah started an aggressive membership drive, and by March 2015, BJP had claimed 100 million members.[47][48]

In 2014 to 2016, BJP achieved success in Legislative Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Assam but lost the elections in Delhi and Bihar.[49]

Shah also spearheaded campaigning in the 2017 assembly elections, which resulted in the party's success in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This was the BJP's greatest run in recent elections; they won 312 seats out of 403.[50][51] The BJP also progressed in Manipur.[52] The BJP won the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly polls for a record six times and wrested power from Congress during the 2017 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly polls. In March 2018, the BJP won for the first time in the left-ruled north-eastern state of Tripura, where they won two-thirds of the votes. The BJP also made gains in Nagaland and Meghalaya and formed a government in both states with its allies.

Shah led the BJP to victory in the 2019 Indian general election; he became the most successful BJP president.[8] During the election campaign, he visited 312 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, holding 18 roadshows, 161 public meetings and over 1,500 BJP meetings.[53] Shah had given BJP workers a seemingly audacious target of crossing 300 seats (Ab ki Baar 300 paar) an initiative he called "Mission 300 Par".[54] The mission was accomplished under his leadership as party president cementing BJP undisputed king of India's political terrain.

He is an admirer of Chanakya and often referred to as a modern-day Chanakya,[55] who had skilfully replaced the Nanda dynasty by the young Chandragupta Maurya. Responding to questions about a portrait of Chanakya at his New Delhi residence in 2016, he said: "[I admire] Chanakya because he was knowledgeable. His sutras are eternal. Economics, politics, and the problem of governance are all there." The Bhagavata Purana is another of his favourite books, which he studied when he was in prison in 2010 in connection with the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.[14]

Union Cabinet Minister (2019–present)

Minister of Home Affairs

Amit Shah, Union Home Minister taking charge of office, in New Delhi on 1 June 2019. The Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba is also seen.
Amit Shah taking charge as the Union Minister for Home Affairs, in New Delhi on 1 June 2019

Article 370

Shah took oath as Cabinet Minister on 30 May 2019 and took office as Minister of Home Affairs on 1 June 2019.[56] On 5 August 2019, Shah moved a resolution to scrap Article 370 in the Rajya Sabha[57] and divide the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two, with Jammu and Kashmir serving as one of the union territories, and Ladakh serving as a separate union territory.[58]

In September 2019, Shah talked about how India needs one unifying language; he said the Hindi language should be spoken to unite the country and represent India in the world. In a tweet, he also appealed to the Indian people to increase the use of the Hindi language.[59][60]

On 27 March 2024, Amit Shah stated that the central government would contemplate the possibility of repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Jammu and Kashmir.[61]

NRC and CAA

On 19 November 2019, Shah declared in the Rajya Sabha of the Indian parliament that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be implemented throughout the country.[62]

In December 2019, he introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which grants Indian citizenship to religiously persecuted minority communities who migrated to the country before 2015 from the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In Northeast India, the act raised concerns about the impact of immigration on local culture and politics, which caused people to protest against the Act. Elsewhere, the opposition parties criticised the Act's exclusion of Muslims as detrimental to India's pluralism. Shah insisted the bill was not anti-Muslim, because it did not change their existing path to citizenship.[63]

Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill 2022

Amit Shah in Vaishno Devi Temple, Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, on 4 October 2022

The bill aims to replace the Identification of Prisoners Act 1920. In the 1980s, the Law Commission of India, in its 87th report, had recommended significant changes to the existing law. The new bill will allow the police and prison authorities to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples, including retina and iris scans, of convicts and persons arrested on various charges. While moving the bill in the lok sabh, Shah said "The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022, will not only fill those obsolete gap, but it will also widen the scope of evidence for conviction."[64][65]

Electoral performance

Since 1989, Shah has fought 28 elections to various local bodies.

Election Year Constituency Result Votes % of votes Source
Gujarat Legislative Assembly (by-election) 1997 Sarkhej Won 76,839 56.10% [66]
Gujarat Legislative Assembly 1998 Sarkhej Won 193,373 69.81% [22]
Gujarat Legislative Assembly 2002 Sarkhej Won 288,327 66.98% [67]
Gujarat Legislative Assembly 2007 Sarkhej Won 407,659 68.00% [68]
Gujarat Legislative Assembly 2012 Naranpura Won 103,988 69.19% [69]
Indian general election 2019 Gandhinagar Won 888,210 69.76%
Indian general election 2024 Gandhinagar Won 10,10,972 76.5% [70][71]

Criticism

PM Modi visits Shauryanjali, a commemorative exhibition on the 1965 war.

During his time as a general secretary of the BJP, party members credited Shah with promoting Hindutva, encouraging Hindu voters to reject "protectors of minorities", and opposing Modi's attempts to reconcile with the Muslim community.[72] Shah convinced the Modi government in Gujarat to pass the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act in 2003, which requires religious conversions in the state – most of which are from Hinduism to other religions[73] – to be approved by a district magistrate.[11][74] Shah portrayed the bill as a measure against forced conversions, although critics claimed that the bill undermined the Indian Constitution.[11] Between 2011 and 2016, approximately half of the applications for religious conversion in Gujarat were declined by the local government.[73]

In 2014, EC barred Shah from conducting any public processions, marches, gatherings and roadshows in Uttar Pradesh due to speeches that were made to outrage the religious feelings and beliefs of different classes.[75] In 2018, Shah said: "Infiltrators are like termites in the soil of Bengal," and regarding the solution of this, stated: "A Bharatiya Janata Party government will pick up infiltrators one by one and throw them into the Bay of Bengal."[76][77]

In December 2019, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) asked the US administration to consider imposing sanctions against Shah if the Indian parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. USCIRF in its statement said: "CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India's rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith." The commission said that the CAB "enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion". The external affairs ministry issued a counter-statement in response to USCIRF by saying it was not based on facts and the bill was to grant citizenship to persecuted religious minorities who arrived in India and does not aim to strip citizenship.[78]

Personal life

Shah is married to Sonal Shah and the couple have a son named Jay Shah. Shah's mother died from an illness on 8 June 2010.[11][15] People close to Shah have described him as someone who does not like to socialise much.[79] He has six sisters, two of whom live in Chicago.[80][14] In September 2019, he was operated for lipoma at the backside of his neck.[81] On 2 August 2020, Shah tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the hospital.[82]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Subhash Mishra and Pratul Sharma (7 July 2013). "In UP, Shah prepares for Modi ahead of 2014 battle". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  2. ^ "Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah Versus The Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr" (PDF). Supreme Court of India Reports. 2012.
  3. ^ "Amit Shah: BJP's 'Chanakya' who delivered Modi Wave 2.0". The Times of India. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Amit Shah: BJP's Chanakya who strategised and delivered Modi wave 2.0". India Today. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Inside the mind of Amit Shah: All eyes on new BJP chief as party gears up for battle in five states". India Today. 17 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. ^ The Hindu Net Desk (18 December 2017). "Gujarat Assembly election results: Counting ends as BJP closes out Gujarat with 99 seats; Congress claims 77". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Punjab Election Result 2017: Congress' Amarinder Singh Defeats Akali Dal-BJP, AAP – Highlights". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Amit Shah in new role after being most successful BJP chief". The Economic Times. 30 May 2019. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  9. ^ Premal Balan (10 July 2014). "Amit Shah: An organisation man at helm". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  10. ^ "Amit Anil Chandra Shah | National Portal of India". www.india.gov.in. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p PR Ramesh (11 April 2014). "His Master's Mind". Open. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  12. ^ ""I Am A Hindu Vaishnav, Not Jain": Amit Shah". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  13. ^ Islam, Shamsul (14 June 2017). "Amit Shah Borrowed a Phrase from Jinnah when he Dubbed Gandhi a 'Chatur Bania'". Newsclick. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019. Amit Shah, himself a baniya
  14. ^ a b c "The 'Shah' of BJP's game plan who wants to alter India's political culture". Hindustan Times. 16 July 2016. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Joshi, Poornima (1 April 2014). "The Organiser". Caravan. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  16. ^ Sheela Bhatt (28 July 2010). "What Amit Shah's fall really means". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  17. ^ "Amit Shah: The quiet, feared strategist behind Modi's rise". 3 May 2024. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  18. ^ a b c d e "Who is Amit Shah?". NDTV. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  19. ^ Dutta, Prabhash K (31 May 2019). "From sticking bills for BJP to managing Union home ministry: Rise and rise of Amit Shah". India Today. Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  20. ^ a b c d "The importance of Amit Shah". Mumbai Mirror. 7 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  21. ^ Andy Marino (8 April 2014). Narendra Modi: A Political Biography. HarperCollins Publishers India. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-93-5136-218-0.
  22. ^ a b "Constituency Data – Summary: Sarkhej – 1998". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  23. ^ "Gujarat keeps a terror law spare". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 3 June 2004. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  24. ^ Manas, Dasgupta (24 July 2010). "Amit Shah resigns, still untraceable". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  25. ^ "Who was Sohrabuddin Sheikh". NDTV.com. 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  26. ^ Nikunj Soni (9 August 2010). "Sohrabuddin case: How Patel bros were 'fleeced'". DNA. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  27. ^ "The journalist who cracked Gujarat fake encounter case". Rediff.com. 25 April 2007. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  28. ^ Abhishek Sharan (26 July 2010). "Cop transfers part of Shah plan". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  29. ^ Bhupendra Chaubey (26 July 2010). "CBI 'proof' against Shah: Sohrabuddin tapes". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 30 July 2010.
  30. ^ "He (Amit Shah) smiled and said Sohrabuddin had himself closed the option of keeping himself alive..." The Indian Express. 24 November 2011. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  31. ^ Aman Sharma (14 November 2013). "CBI to file crucial charge-sheets in Gujarat fake encounters' case". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  32. ^ Sheela Bhatt (8 October 2013). "Encounter cases are politically motivated; non-Gujarat encounters are never scrutinized". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  33. ^ J. Venkatesan (29 August 2010). "CBI putting pressure on me: Geeta Johri". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  34. ^ "CBI clean chit for Amit Shah in Ishrat Jahan encounter case". The Times of India. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  35. ^ "Amit Shah discharged in Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case". @businessline. Reuters. 30 December 2014. Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  36. ^ Rajput, Rashmi (30 December 2014). "Amit Shah discharged, court finds no evidence". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  37. ^ "News Detail". Cobrapost.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  38. ^ "The Law of Renaming: The Need for Mandatory Public Consultation". The Wire. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  39. ^ Deepshikha Ghosh (6 May 2014). "Snoopgate: 'Thankful' for Surveillance, Woman Tells Supreme Court". NDTV. Archived from the original on 11 May 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  40. ^ Amit Shah set for a bigger role if BJP wins Archived 7 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Vinay Kumar, 12 April 2014
  41. ^ Shekhar Gupta (8 April 2014). Anticipating India. HarperCollins Publishers India. p. 369. ISBN 978-93-5136-256-2.
  42. ^ Yojna Gosai (18 May 2014). "Sunday Interview: We had 450 video raths with GPS and I'd get feedback on my mobile, says Amit Shah". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 24 December 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  43. ^ a b c Prarthna Gahilote (26 May 2014). "Judgement Day Feast For The Shah Of Shahs". Outlook. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  44. ^ "The enablers: Narendra Modi relies most on two men who could hardly be less alike". The Economist. 24 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  45. ^ "BJP strategist & Narendra Modi's confidant Amit Shah appointed party president". The Economic Times. 9 July 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  46. ^ Hebbar, Nistula (24 January 2016). "Amit Shah re-elected BJP president". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  47. ^ "BJP becomes largest political party in the world". The Times of India. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  48. ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh (9 April 2015). "Move Over, CCP: India's BJP Now the World's Largest Political Party". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  49. ^ Roy Choudhary, Arghya (9 November 2015). "Bihar Elections 2015: Has BJP President Amit Shah lost his inner Chanakya?". DNA. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  50. ^ "Amit Shah: Uttar Pradesh election results: How BJP chief Amit Shah crafted a winning strategy for PM Modi". The Economic Times. 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  51. ^ "Narendra Modi's B.J.P. Party Wins Big in Uttar Pradesh, India's Largest State". The New York Times. 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  52. ^ Hebbar, Nistula (11 March 2017). "How Amit Shah won U.P., one booth at a time". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  53. ^ Verma, Gyan (24 May 2019). "Legwork, foot soldiers and focus on its social schemes behind BJP's success". Mint. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  54. ^ Singh, Akshay Pratap; Gaur, Gaur (30 May 2019). "Second to None: Amit Shah's Political Engine". Quint. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  55. ^ "Amit Shah: BJP's Chanakya who strategised and delivered Modi wave 2.0". India Today. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  56. ^ "PM Modi allocates portfolios. Full list of new ministers", Live Mint, 31 May 2019, archived from the original on 2 June 2019, retrieved 2 June 2019
  57. ^ "No Article 370 for Jammu & Kashmir, historic move by Modi govt". India Today. 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  58. ^ "Jammu and Kashmir Live News: Article 370 to be revoked, J&K to be reorganised". LiveMint. 5 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  59. ^ "Only Hindi can work to unite country, says Amit Shah". The Hindu. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  60. ^ "Nation needs one unifying language: Amit Shah bats for Hindi as India's identity". India Today. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  61. ^ "Centre To Consider Revoking AFSPA, Pull Back Troops From J&K: Amit Shah". NDTV. 27 March 2024. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  62. ^ "Amit Shah: NRC to apply nationwide, no person of any religion should worry". India Today. 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  63. ^ "India's parliament passes contentious citizenship bill". CBC News. 20 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  64. ^ Sharma, Harikishan (9 April 2022). "Criminal Procedure(Identification) Bill, 2022: The dreaded thanedar vs empowerment of police". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 10 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  65. ^ Sandhu, Kamaljit Kaur (6 April 2022). "Parliament passes Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill". India Today. Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  66. ^ "Bye-Elections 1997: Sarkhej". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  67. ^ "State Elections 2002: 64-Sarkhej Constituency of Gujarat". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  68. ^ "State Elections 2007: 64-Sarkhej Constituency of Gujarat". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  69. ^ "Form-21E: 45-Naranpura" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  70. ^ "⁦Election Commission of India". results.eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  71. ^ "Bullish Wins & Bearish Losses: Here are the key contests and results of 2024 Lok Sabha polls". Economic Times. 6 June 2024. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  72. ^ Vij Aurora, Bhavna (7 April 2014). "Spreading the Hindutva agenda: BJP's Amit Shah unlikely to lower his 'revenge' tenor". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  73. ^ a b "In Gujarat, 94.4% of those seeking to convert are Hindu". The Times of India. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  74. ^ Shimron, Yonat (11 May 2017). "A Dalit community looks to escape the caste system by converting to Buddhism". Religion News Service. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  75. ^ "EC comes out strong, bans Amit Shah & Azam Khan from campaigning in UP". The Economic Times. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  76. ^ "BJP chief slammed for calling Bangladeshi migrants 'termites'". Al Jazeera. 24 September 2018. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  77. ^ "Amit Shah vows to throw illegal immigrants into Bay of Bengal". Reuters. 13 April 2019. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  78. ^ "Sanctions against Amit Shah over CAB". The Economic Times. 11 December 2019. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  79. ^ Deepal Trivedi (23 July 2010). "Shrewd Modi loyalist able to 'manage everything'". Asian Age. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  80. ^ "Exclusive! Amit Shah on Friday: Wakes up late, eats poha, chats with Modi". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  81. ^ "Amit Shah undergoes operation for lipoma at Ahmedabad hospital". 5 September 2019. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  82. ^ "Home Minister Amit Shah tests positive for COVID-19". Tribune India. 2 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.

Further reading

Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Gandhinagar

2019 – Present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Home Affairs
30 May 2019 – Present
Incumbent
Preceded by
Ministry did not exist
Minister of Co-operation
7 July 2021 – Present
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Bharatiya Janata Party
2014–2019
Succeeded by