NEW DELHI: Amit Shah on Tuesday reached the career milestone of becoming the longest-serving home minister, drawing compliments from PM Narendra Modi for an even-studded spell marked by landmark decisions like abolition of special status of J&K, enactment of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, promulgation of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and a hammer blow to Maoist insurgency.Amit Shah, who has been home minister for 2,258 days, has overtaken BJP stalwart L K Advani, who had a run of 2,256 days in the politically crucial position. Govind Ballabh Pant, a Congess giant and former UP CM, had the third longest tenure as home minister.Interestingly, Shah achieved the distinction on the the 6th anniversary of the scrapping of the special status for J&K – one of the foundational objectives of BJP.While addressing a meeting of NDA parliamentary group, the PM congratulated Shah, whose tenure as BJP chief was also impressive. Modi saying, “It is just the beginning”, sparked curiosity among MPs. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, however, clarified that Modi’s reference was to BJP-led NDA’s ongoing success.In his speech, Shah spoke about Operation Sindoor, calling it a symbol of India’s resolute political will and firm response to attacks.Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske said Modi commended Shah for uniting NDA partners.Shah, who served as Gujarat home minister under Modi’s CM-ship, became the country’s home minister on May 30 2019 and is serving. Apart from the home ministry, he is also the country’s first cooperation minister.
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