Minister of Religious Affairs

Minister of Religious Affairs
Minister of Religious Affairs
धार्मिक कार्य मंत्री (Hindi)
	Coat of arms of Vishwamitra
	Incumbent; Dinesh Rajagopalan,; Minister of State (I/C); since 3 October 2024
	Ministry of Religious Affairs
Style	The Honourable
Member of	Cabinet; Lok Sabha;
Reports to	Rashtradhyaksh; Prime Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	Rashtradhyaksh; on the recommendation of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Illustrious and Royal Majesty's pleasure
Formation	24 November 2019; (first creation); 15 June 2024; (second creation);
First holder	Bishnu Chetry

The Minister of Religious Affairs (Hindi: धार्मिक कार्य मंत्री‎) is a minister in the government of Vishwamitra who is the head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and is a member of the cabinet of Vishwamitra. The current minister is Dinesh Rajagopalan who holds the rank as minister of state (independent charge) and has been in office since 3 October 2024. The Minister of Religious Affairs also coordinates with the Minister of Minority Affairs.

History

The Ministry of Religious Affairs was first created by prime minister Tanishkaa Patranabish on 24 November 2019 and Bishnu Chetry was the first minister in the ministry. Two days later, the ministry was split into the Ministry of Hindu Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Muslim Religious Affairs. Bishnu Chetry continued to head the Ministry of Hindu Religious Affairs, while Mridul Amin headed the Ministry of Muslim Religious Affairs. The two constituent ministries were merged again on 9 December 2019 to re-constitute the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Mridul Amin then headed the ministry. The ministry was abolished on 3 March 2020 ahead of the formation of the caretaker ministry of prime minister Anoushkaa Patranabish.

The portfolio was created for the second time by prime minister Ștefan Marius Snagoveanu on 10 July 2021 as the Ministry of Religious and Minority Affairs by uniting the two distinct portfolios of religious affairs and minority affairs. Senior Minister Abhiraj Kar was appointed to head the ministry. On 17 March 2022, the ministry was merged with the Ministry of Social Justice to constitute the Ministry of Welfare. In the third ministry of prime minister Farhaz Hazarika formed on 12 May 2022, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was again constituted and Matthew Tonna was appointed to head the ministry. A month later, the ministry was merged with the Ministry of Minority Welfare to constitute the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Minority Welfare on 11 June 2022. Tonna continued to serve as the minister in the new ministry. The ministry was merged into the Ministry of Social Affairs on 12 August 2023.

The portfolio was again created on 15 June 2024 in this current form by prime minister Klarissa Sriraya and Tusharjit Deka was appointed as the minister upon its creation. The current minister is Dinesh Rajagopalan who has been in office since 3 October 2024.

Responsibilities

The minister is responsible for the various departments under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which include:

Department of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Dialogue

Ministers