No Woman Minister in Maharashtra Cabinet, BJP's Fadnavis Responds to Criticism

The list of ministers doesn't include women, a move being panned by politicians and women's rights activists.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Rights activists have expressed disappointment over the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra failing to induct women into the cabinet which was expanded on Tuesday after 41 days.

Eighteen MLAs, including state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrakant Patil, were sworn in as cabinet ministers at Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai.

The list doesn't include women, a move being panned by politicians and women's rights activists.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule said not inducting women shows the "BJP's mindset".

“Maharashtra was the first state in the country to give the reservation for women. When 50 per cent of India's population is women, they are not represented in the state cabinet. This shows the BJP's mindset,” said Sule.

The 18 ministers included nine each from the BJP and the Shinde camp.

As the controversy raged, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said women will get appropriate representation in the state government.

"The objection that there is no woman minister in the newly-formed cabinet will be addressed soon. Women representatives will get appropriate representation in our cabinet," Fadnavis said in Pune.

Activist Trupti Desai of Bhumata Brigade, who had spearheaded a protest for women's entry at the Shani temple in the Ahmednagar district in 2016, expressed disappointment over not a single woman legislator finding a place in the Shinde cabinet.

This is an insult to women in general in the progressive state like Maharashtra, she alleged.

Social activist Kiran Moghe said not inducting women is "shocking", especially when the country is celebrating 75 years of Independence.

"I wonder that they did not find any capable woman who can be inducted in the cabinet," Moghe said.