Mansukh Mandaviya took over as India’s new health minister on Wednesday in Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi’s biggest Cabinet reshuffle. A Rajya Sabha lawmaker from Gujarat, he belongs to Patidar caste and was the junior minister in charge of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Chemicals & Fertilisers.
On Wednesday evening, PM Modi inducted 35 new faces in the cabinet and promoted 7 ministers. Mandaviya has been handed over the health ministry amid the COVID pandemic.
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He replaced Dr Harsh Vardhan Singh, who was facing massive criticism from all sides over the alleged mishandling of the COVID crisis during the deadly second surge of the pandemic.
The opposition, however, said the former health minister was made a %u201Cscapegoat for monumental failures at the highest level.%u201D
In 2016, Mandaviya was inducted into the Union council of ministers as a Minister of States. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and re-elected in 2018. In 2011, he was the Chairman of Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation when PM Modi was the Chief Minister.
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Mandaviya was born in a humble household in village Hanol in the Saurashtra region. He was the youngest legislator at the age of 28 years in 2002. An animal lover by nature, he studied veterinary science and later did his masters in political science.
Since his appointment as the health minister, a number of Mandaviya’s purportedly older tweets are going viral for their bad grammar and ahistorical claims. In one tweet, he said, %u201CMahatma Gandhiji is our nation of father.%u201D
Those tweets have since been deleted.
