The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the home minister is the maintenance of the internal security of India; the country's large police force comes under its jurisdiction. Occasionally, they are assisted by the Minister of State of Home Affairs and the lower-ranked Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.

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Minister of Home Affairs
Gr̥ha-Mantrī
Emblem of India
Flag of India
Incumbent Amit Shah since 31 May 2019 (2019-05-31)
Ministry of Home Affairs
Abbreviation	MHA
Member of	Cabinet of India Cabinet Committee on Security
Reports to	President of India Prime Minister of India Parliament of India
Appointer	President of India on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India
Formation	1947 (1947)
First holder	Vallabhbhai Patel
Deputy	Minister of State for Home Affairs

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Ever since the time of independent India's first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the office has been seen as second in seniority only to the Prime Minister in the union cabinet. Like Patel, several Home Ministers have since held the additional portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister. As of February 2020, three Home Ministers have gone on to become the Prime Minister: Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh and P. V. Narasimha Rao. L.K. Advani, serving from 19 March 1998 to 22 May 2004, has held the office of the Home Minister for the longest continuous period, as of February 2020.

On several occasions, the Prime Minister also held the additional portfolio of the Minister of Home Affairs. Jawaharlal Nehru briefly acted as home minister in 1950 following the demise of Vallabhbhai Patel, Indira Gandhi briefly served as home minister in 1966 following resignation of Gulzarilal Nanda, Morarji Desai held the portfolio from 1978 till 1979, Chandra Shekhar throughout his prime ministerial tenure and H. D. Deve Gowda briefly served as home minister in 1996.

P. Chidambaram who served as the home minister from 2008 till 2012 has the rare distinction of serving as both cabinet minister and minister of state in the ministry. He served as minister of state from 1986 till 1989. The current minister is Amit Shah of the Bharatiya Janata Party who has been in office since 31 May 2019 and succeeded his party colleague Rajnath Singh as the home minister.

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^† Assassinated or died in office

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No.	Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
				From	To	Period
1			Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) MCA for Bombay (Deputy Prime Minister)	15 August 1947	12 December 1950[†]	1 year, 119 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I	Jawaharlal Nehru
–			Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) MP for United Provinces (Prime Minister)	12 December 1950	26 December 1950	14 days
2			C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972) Unelected	26 December 1950	5 November 1951	314 days
3			Kailash Nath Katju (1887–1968) MP for Mandsaur	5 November 1951	13 May 1952	3 years, 66 days
				13 May 1952	10 January 1955			Nehru II
4			Govind Ballabh Pant (1887–1961) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	10 January 1955	17 April 1957	6 years, 56 days
				17 April 1957	7 March 1961[†]			Nehru III
5			Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966) MP for Allahabad	26 February 1961	10 April 1962	2 years, 187 days
				2 April 1962	1 September 1963			Nehru IV
6			Gulzarilal Nanda (1898–1998) MP for Sabarkantha	1 September 1963	27 May 1964	3 years, 69 days
				27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I	Self (acting)
				9 June 1964	11 January 1966			Shastri	Lal Bahadur Shastri
				11 January 1966	24 January 1966			Nanda II	Self (acting)
				24 January 1966	9 November 1966			Indira I	Indira Gandhi
–			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh (Prime Minister)	9 November 1966	13 November 1966	4 days
7			Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP for Nashik	13 November 1966	13 March 1967	3 years, 226 days
				13 March 1967	27 June 1970		Indian National Congress (R)	Indira II
–			Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) MP for Rae Bareli (Prime Minister)	27 June 1970	13 March 1971	2 years, 223 days
				13 March 1971	5 February 1973			Indira III
8			Uma Shankar Dikshit (1901–1991) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	5 February 1973	10 October 1974	1 year, 247 days
9			Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (1909–1994) Rajya Sabha MP for Andhra Pradesh	10 October 1974	24 March 1977	2 years, 165 days
10			Charan Singh (1902–1987) MP for Baghpat	24 March 1977	1 July 1978	1 year, 99 days	Janata Party	Desai	Morarji Desai
–			Morarji Desai (1896–1995) MP for Surat (Prime Minister)	1 July 1978	24 January 1979	207 days
11			Hirubhai M. Patel (1904–1993) MP for Sabarkantha	24 January 1979	28 July 1979	185 days
(7)			Yashwantrao Chavan (1913–1984) MP for Satara (Deputy Prime Minister)	28 July 1979	14 January 1980	170 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan Singh	Charan Singh
12			Zail Singh (1916–1994) MP for Hoshiarpur	14 January 1980	22 June 1982	2 years, 159 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Indira IV	Indira Gandhi
13			Ramaswamy Venkataraman (1910–2009) MP for Chennai South	22 June 1982	2 September 1982	72 days
14			Prakash Chandra Sethi (1919–1996) MP for Indore	2 September 1982	19 July 1984	1 year, 321 days
15			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Hanamkonda	19 July 1984	31 October 1984	165 days
				31 October 1984	31 December 1984			Rajiv I	Rajiv Gandhi
16			Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004) MP for Nanded	31 December 1984	12 March 1986	1 year, 71 days		Rajiv II
(15)			P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Hanamkonda	12 March 1986	12 May 1986	61 days
17			Buta Singh (1934–2021) MP for Jalore	12 May 1986	2 December 1989	3 years, 204 days
18			Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (1936–2016) MP for Muzaffarnagar	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	1 year, 8 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath	V. P. Singh
–			Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	10 November 1990	21 June 1991	223 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar	Chandra Shekhar
(17)			Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	21 June 1991	16 May 1996	4 years, 330 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Rao	P. V. Narasimha Rao
19			Murli Manohar Joshi (born 1934) MP for Allahabad	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
–			H. D. Deve Gowda (born 1933) Unelected (Prime Minister)	1 June 1996	29 June 1996	28 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
20			Indrajit Gupta (1919–2001) MP for Midnapore	29 June 1996	21 April 1997	1 year, 263 days	Communist Party of India
				21 April 1997	19 March 1998			Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
21			L. K. Advani (born 1927) MP for Gandhinagar (Deputy Prime Minister from 29 June 2002)	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	6 years, 64 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
				13 October 1999	22 May 2004			Vajpayee III
22			Shivraj Patil (born 1935) Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra	23 May 2004	30 November 2008	4 years, 191 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh
23			P. Chidambaram (born 1945) MP for Sivaganga	30 November 2008	22 May 2009	3 years, 244 days
				23 May 2009	31 July 2012			Manmohan II
24			Sushilkumar Shinde (born 1941) MP for Solapur	31 July 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 299 days
25			Rajnath Singh (born 1951) MP for Lucknow	27 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 3 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I	Narendra Modi
26			Amit Shah (born 1964) MP for Gandhinagar	31 May 2019	Incumbent	4 years, 324 days		Modi II

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^† Assassinated or died in office