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Hardeep Singh Puri, who passionately defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Central Vista project, was rewarded with an elevation to the Cabinet rank and was additionally given the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas, a heavyweight ministry.
A former career diplomat, who represented India at the United Nations (in Geneva from 2002 to 2005 and in New York from 2009 to 2013), Puri joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, after his four-decades-long career with Indian Foreign Service. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. Puri, who got attracted to the BJP because of the party’s stand on national security issues, unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Amritsar Constituency in Punjab.
His term in New York also coincided with the 2011-12 period during which India was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. He presided over the UN Security Council in August 2011 and November 2012, and chaired its Counter-Terrorism Committee. Puri’s father and wife also served as diplomats.
He is the author of two books: Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos, and Delusional Politics. In the last book, Puri pointedly referred to Indian National Congress leadership as “delusional,” and blamed the party’s electoral loss on “the separation of power and accountability between 2004 and 2014. An interesting system of ‘diarchy’ was introduced in 2004 when the Congress won and this was widely regarded as an unexpected victory.”
Previous stints
Puri served as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs from 1994 to 1997, and 1999 to 2002. He was also Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence from 1997 to 1999. He became Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
Puri, who replaced Dharmendra Pradhan as Petroleum Minister, has a huge task on hand as people across the country are protesting the soaring petrol and diesel prices. After the Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, he also relinquished the post of Civil Aviation Minister, a position that Jyotiraditya Scindia will hold going forward. Puri will, meanwhile, retain the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the other portfolio he held.
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