A Cabinet Reshuffle That Media Failed To Read
It was typical of the Modi government.
In Modi raj, journalists covering the government don’t get to break news. They are fed with information which they, like assembly line products, repeat in their dispatches.
Consider this: Before the actual Cabinet reshuffle exercise, it was said that Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may be dropped. Some talked about another “Kamaraj Plan”.
People gave references to how she was already made one of the people in-charge of Gujarat elections.
The fact was that Sitharaman’s was the biggest promotion of the exercise – she was made the Union Defence Minister.
Similarly, while Suresh Prabhu’s departure from the Railways was recorded the day he met the PM, offering to resign, it was widely speculated who could be his successor. Most pointed to a “super-ministry that would include the Railways” helmed by Nitin Gadkari.
Among other names speculated to head the Railways were Manoj Sinha and Prakash Javadekar. At the end, it was silent performer Piyush Goyal who was entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of the Railways as the Modi government prepares for the general elections 2019.
In keeping with wild speculations, Pravesh Verma, the son of late Sahib Singh Verma, was tipped to be a Minister because he went to meet BJP President Amit Shah. Anurag Thakur was made once such contender. It was said that Himanta Biswa Sarma would be made a Minister at the Centre, after he played his part in Assam.
At the end, none of this was true.
On Saturday, senior journalists were fed with the information that a diverse group of nine members was to be included into the Union Cabinet. All such pronouncements / stories came with a qualifying statement. “They represent the power of 4 P: Passion, Proficiency, Professional and Political acumen for Progress”.
Clearly, journalists don’t have a clue on what’s playing out in the raj of PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. The days of “leaks” and “inspired stories” are well and truly over. And now the media will have to be content with whatever information that the government chooses to feed them.
Coming back to the reshuffle, it’s more than that. It’s an overhaul. Sitharaman’s is clearly the biggest move. With this she becomes the second woman leader in Independent India to become Defence Minister. And, now we have two leading women leaders in the Cabinet Committee on Security.
With this, the Modi government has also given an indication that it’s big on women power, and Sitharaman, Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani (who retains both I&B and Textiles) represent the new triumvirate.
Another big message from the overhaul is that performance has been rewarded. Gadkari, inarguably the best performer of the Cabinet, has been entrusted with another portfolio – Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (a sphere where Uma Bharati has appeared to have failed).
Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Rajyavardhan Rathore are the success stories of the Modi government and all of them have been promoted.
Even if Prabhu had chosen to resign, Modi continues to have faith in him, and Prabhu has the crucial portfolio of Commerce and Industry.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s promotion as the full-fledged Union Minister for Minority Affairs was due, especially when the government has no other Muslim face.
The reshuffle saw the induction of professionals and first times – something that brings the much-needed diversity to Team Modi.
Diplomat Hardeep Puri is Minister of State (independent charge) of Housing and Urban Affairs. Could he have been a better fit in MEA?
Alphons Kannanthanam is Minister of State (independent charge) of the Ministry of Tourism and an MoS in the Ministry of Electronics and IT. Some thought he might have excelled in Urban Affairs, given his long standing career in DDA.
Raj Kumar Singh, former bureaucrat, is the MoS (independent charge) of Power and Renewable energy.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satya Pal Singh is MoS in HRD, and Water Resources ministry.
Have the PM and the BJP President turned conventional wisdom on its head?
When as many as eight states including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, go to polls, before the general elections of 2019, could more representation have been given to these states?
Also why was non-performance not factored? The fact that underperformers like Radha Mohan Singh continue to hold fort didn’t go unnoticed.
Also, as the Congress said, could more “younger leaders” have been included?
Also the fact that the allies, especially the JD (U) didn’t figure in the reshuffle suggests that this may not be the last reshuffle before the parliamentary elections of 2019.
This reshuffle has the imprint of PM Modi, Amit Shah, and Arun Jaitley.
It will be interesting to see how the dream team of PM Modi performs in the run-up to the next Lok Sabha elections.
