The Home Minister conducted a meeting with the officials to familiarise with the issues concerning the ministry. Two newly appointed Ministers of state for home - G K Reddy and Nityananda Rai - also took charge on Saturday.
Zero tolerance towards terrorism and checking illegal immigration will be the focus areas of new Home Minister Amit Shah in the second Modi government, which may also take some tough actions like implementing the NRC across the country and annulling Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
WATCH: Modi govt 2.0: Amit Shah takes charge as Home Minister
Shah, who played a crucial role in the return of his party's government at the Centre, is joining the Union home ministry for the first time. He had earlier served as home minister during Modi's tenure as chief minister of Gujarat. He succeeds Rajnath Singh, who has been given charge of the Defence Ministry in the new government.
Here are major challenges ahead for Amit Shah as new Home Minister
- Dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir will the biggest challenge for Shah.
- Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution: The BJP in its manifesto promised abrogation of Article 370 and 35A. While Article 370 gives special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35-A empowers state's legislature to define "permanent resident" of the state and reserve their right to employment besides other privileges.
- Dealing with Naxal terrorism: The number of Naxal affected district in 2014 was 161 in 16 states and in 2019 it reduced to 90 in 11 districts in 2019.
- Completion of National Register of Citizen (NRC) exercise in Assam: The Supreme Court is insistent on government sticking to the July 31 deadline for completion of the NRC exercise.
- Implementation of the NRC is West Bengal: Shah had said that the NDA government will implement the NRC in West Bengal. When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The draft NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications. The final NRC is expected to be published on July 31, 2019.
A confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for over two and a half decades, Shah was also a trusted minister in the Gujarat government headed by Modi as chief minister between 2001-14. He held portfolios, including home, transport, and law and justice in the state.
Shah also made his Lok Sabha debut in 2019 polls, having won with more than five lakh votes from Gandhinagar, a constituency long represented by BJP veteran L K Advani. Modi's decision to bring Shah in his cabinet signals that he will now play a crucial role in the government, effectively the go-to man for the prime minister, several party leaders believe. For all practical purposes, Shah has been the party's second most powerful leader after Modi since he became its president in 2014 after the BJP-led NDA assumed power.