Minister of External Affairs (India)

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Minister of External Affairs
Videsh Mantrī
Emblem of India.svg
Emblem of India
Minister Jaishankar (48823162971) (cropped).jpg
Incumbent
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

since 30 May 2019
Ministry of External Affairs
AppointerPresident on the advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holderJawaharlal Nehru
Formation2 September 1946

The Minister of External Affairs (or simply, the Foreign Minister, in 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.

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. 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.

List of Foreign Ministers[]

No. Portrait Name Term of office Length Political party
(Alliance)
Prime Minister
1 Jnehru.jpg Jawaharlal Nehru 15 August 1947 27 May 1964 16 years, 286 days Indian National Congress Jawaharlal Nehru
2 Gulzarilal Nanda (cropped).jpg Gulzarilal Nanda 27 May 1964 9 June 1964 13 days Gulzarilal Nanda
(acting)
3 Lal Bahadur Shastri (from stamp).jpg Lal Bahadur Shastri 9 June 1964 17 July 1964 38 days Lal Bahadur Shastri
4 Sardar Swaran Singh.jpg Swaran Singh 18 July 1964 14 November 1966 2 years, 119 days Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indira Gandhi
5 Mohamed Ali Currim Chagla.jpg M. C. Chagla 14 November 1966 5 September 1967 295 days Indira Gandhi
6 Indira Gandhi 1977.jpg Indira Gandhi 6 September 1967 13 February 1969 1 year, 160 days
7 Raja dinesh singh.jpg Dinesh Singh 14 February 1969 27 June 1970 1 year, 133 days
(4) Sardar Swaran Singh.jpg Swaran Singh 27 June 1970 10 October 1974 4 years, 105 days
8 Yashwantrao Chavan.jpg Yashwantrao Chavan 10 October 1974 24 March 1977 2 years, 165 days
9 The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivering his speech at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan on January 4, 2004 (1) (cropped).jpg Atal Bihari Vajpayee 26 March 1977 28 July 1979 2 years, 124 days Janata Party Morarji Desai
10 Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra 28 July 1979 14 January 1980 170 days Janata Party (Secular) Charan Singh
11 P. V. Narasimha Rao.JPG P. V. Narasimha Rao 14 January 1980 19 July 1984 4 years, 187 days Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi
(6) Indira Gandhi 1977.jpg Indira Gandhi 19 July 1984 31 October 1984 104 days
12 Rajiv Gandhi (1987).jpg Rajiv Gandhi 31 October 1984 24 September 1985 328 days Rajiv Gandhi
13 B.R. Bhagat in a meeting (cropped).png Bali Ram Bhagat 25 September 1985 12 May 1986 230 days
14 P. Shiv Shankar 12 May 1986 22 October 1986 163 days
15 Shri Narayan Dutt Tiwari.jpg N. D. Tiwari 22 October 1986 25 July 1987 276 days
(12) Rajiv Gandhi (1987).jpg Rajiv Gandhi 25 July 1987 25 June 1988 336 days
(11) P. V. Narasimha Rao.JPG P. V. Narasimha Rao 25 June 1988 2 December 1989 1 year, 160 days
16 V. P. Singh (cropped).jpg V. P. Singh 2 December 1989 5 December 1989 3 days Janata Dal
(National Front)
V. P. Singh
17 Inder Kumar Gujral 071.jpg I. K. Gujral 5 December 1989 10 November 1990 340 days
18 Chandra Shekhar Singh.jpg Chandra Shekhar[1] 10 November 1990 21 November 1990 11 days Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
Chandra Shekhar
19 Vidya Charan Shukla 21 November 1990 20 February 1991 91 days
(18) Chandra Shekhar Singh.jpg Chandra Shekhar[2] 20 February 1991 21 June 1991 121 days
20 Madhavsinh Solanki.jpg Madhavsinh Solanki 21 June 1991 31 March 1992 284 days Indian National Congress P. V. Narasimha Rao
(11) P. V. Narasimha Rao.JPG P. V. Narasimha Rao 31 March 1992 18 January 1993 293 days
(7) Raja dinesh singh.jpg Dinesh Singh 18 January 1993 10 February 1995 2 years, 23 days
21 Pranab Mukherjee-World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 crop(2).jpg Pranab Mukherjee 10 February 1995 16 May 1996 1 year, 96 days
22 Sikander Bakht 21 May 1996 1 June 1996 11 days Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee
(17) Inder Kumar Gujral 071.jpg I. K. Gujral 1 June 1996 18 March 1998 1 year, 291 days Janata Dal
(United Front)
H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral
(9) The Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivering his speech at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan on January 4, 2004 (1) (cropped).jpg Atal Bihari Vajpayee 19 March 1998 5 December 1998 261 days Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
23 Jaswant Singh (cropped).jpg Jaswant Singh 5 December 1998 1 July 2002 3 years, 208 days
24 Yashwant Sinha IMF.jpg Yashwant Sinha 1 July 2002 22 May 2004 1 year, 326 days
25 K Natwar Singh.jpg Natwar Singh 22 May 2004[3] 6 November 2005[4] 1 year, 168 days Indian National Congress
(United Progressive Alliance)
Manmohan Singh
26 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in WEF ,2009 (cropped).jpg Manmohan Singh 6 November 2005 24 October 2006 352 days
(21) Pranab Mukherjee-World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 crop(2).jpg Pranab Mukherjee 24 October 2006[5] 22 May 2009 2 years, 210 days
27 India-eam-krishna (cropped).jpg S. M. Krishna 22 May 2009 26 October 2012 3 years, 157 days
28 Salman-kurshid.jpg Salman Khurshid 28 October 2012 26 May 2014 1 year, 210 days
29 Minister Sushma Swaraj in NYC - 2017 (36466238704) (cropped).jpg Sushma Swaraj 26 May 2014 30 May 2019 5 years, 4 days Bharatiya Janata Party
(National Democratic Alliance)
Narendra Modi
30 Minister Jaishankar (48823162971) (cropped).jpg Subrahmanyam Jaishankar 30 May 2019 Incumbent 2 years, 259 days

List of Ministers of State[]

Ministers of State of External Affairs
Minister of state Portrait Political party Term Years
General V. K. Singh VK Singh.jpg Bharatiya Janata Party 26 May 2014 30 May 2019 5 years, 4 days
M. J. Akbar M. J. Akbar cropped.JPG 5 July 2016 17 October 2018 2 years, 104 days
V. Muraleedharan Vellamvelly Muraleedharan and Gustavo Zlauvinen 02 (cropped).jpg 30 May 2019 Incumbent 2 years, 259 days
Meenakshi Lekhi Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi in July 2021.jpg 7 July 2021 Incumbent 221 days
Rajkumar Ranjan Singh Dr. Ranjan Singh.jpg 7 July 2021 Incumbent 221 days
Plaque of the Minister of External Affairs at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.
Plaque of the Minister of External Affairs at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Council of Ministers" (PDF).
  3. ^ Rediff.com dated 22 May 2004, accessed 25 October 200
  4. ^ BBC News dated 7 November 2005, accessed 25 October 200
  5. ^ The Hindu dated 25 October 2006, accessed 25 October 2006.

External links[]

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