In recent political history, no cabinet reshuffle has attracted so much media and public attention as the one on July 5. Nineteen new faces as ministers of state have been inducted while seven axed for being underperformers, tainted or aged. Reams have since been written about the rejig by commentators; some praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for making bold changes with a “perform or perish” message. The adulation notwithstanding, the shake-up has exposed the palace intrigues while sending out two clear signals — the increasing RSS hold over the government and social engineering for poll-bound state, Uttar Pradesh, in particular.
Some inductions and demotions defy logic and betray unease, if not aversion, to liberal minded, articulate, English speaking law makers and those who are not grounded in RSS ideology. If that, indeed, is the case, the shuffle has not fully served Prime Minister’s reform agenda.
THE adulation notwithstanding, the shake-up has exposed the palace intrigues while sending out two clear signals — the increasing RSS hold over the government and social engineering for poll-bound state, Uttar Pradesh, in particular. Some inductions and demotions defy logic and betray unease, if not aversion, to liberal minded, articulate, English speaking law makers and those who are not grounded in RSS ideology. If that, indeed, is the case, the shuffle has not fully served Prime Minister’s reform agenda.
Minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah and junior minister G.M. Siddeshwara were dropped for being over aged – they crossed Modi’s cut off age of 75 for ministerial berths. However, another 75 plus, Kalraj Mishra, was retained because he is a Brahmin and from UP. What has his position to do with governance? If the PM cannot strictly enforce his own thump rule, why impose it at the first place?
While Smriti Irani, a rookie with doubtful scholastic credentials, was made a cabinet minister directly (2014) and entrusted with a key portfolio like HRD only to be shunted to the textiles, ministers like Piyush Goyal having strong academic record in law and accounts and who participated in leadership programmes at Oxford, Yale, Princeton University and Harvard Business School were not considered worthy of a cabinet rank.
And despite his impressive record as power minister, Goyal was not promoted but an average Prakash Javedkar was given HRD with cabinet rank. Two other ministers rated high in performance – Nirmala Sitaram (commerce) and Dharmendra Pradhan – were also deemed unfit for elevation.
There is no credible explanation as to why an accomplished junior finance minister Jayant Sinha was packed off to the civil aviation? Sinha, an IITian and educated at the Harvard University was replaced by two “swadeshis” – Arjun Ram Meghwal and Santosh Gangwar, the former a Rajasthan administrative service officer-turned politician and the latter a BSc, LLB lawmaker holding charge of textiles.
Was it because of conflict of interest as Jayant’s wife is a high profile business person or is it because his father Yashwant Sinha, finance minister in Vajpayee cabinet, had taken jibes at Modi for barring those above 75 years of age, calling himself in jest “brain dead”? If so, is not it petty to punish the son for his father’s outspokenness?
Culture, I&B, HRD and Rural Development are among the key ministries RSS is interested for ideological reasons. No wonder Nagpur favourites – Prakash Javedkar replaced Irani (an outsider) in HRD, Narendra Kumar Tomar replaced Birendra Singh( a Congress turncoat) in R&D and Venkaiah Naidu shoved to I&B ostensibly to “deburden” finance minister Arun Jaitley, a liberal voice under attack from Subramanian Swamy.
The shuffle also hints that the undeclared war between Jaitley and Swamy is far from over. After losing defence earlier, Jaitley lost I&B and S.S. Ahluwalia, a camp follower of rival Sushma Swaraj, made MoS parliamentary affairs. The suave and articulate Jaitley has been government’s key trouble shooter in Parliament and was considered a quasi law minister. Low key law minister Sadananda Gowda was replaced by Jaitley’s competitor Ravi Shankar Prasad.
These straws in the corridors of power have lent credence to the talk that Swamy, eyeing finance ministry, has succeeded in downsizing Jaitley, incrementally.
And after targeting Jaitley, Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, economic affairs secretary Shaktikant Das, Swamy is now back to business. His next target appears to be Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, whom he called “slimy” on Monday. Rohatgi is also considered close to Jaitley.
Analysing the reshuffle, an elated commentator had complimented Modi for keeping politicians like Swamy out of the cabinet oblivious of the fact that he is a nominated MP and that he had crossed 75.
Swamy’s ties with Modi too are intriguing. Even after he publicly criticised Jaitley, Rajan and other officials, the PM did not suo moto snub him. It was only when an editor-in-chief of a popular news channel, in an interview, posed the question about Swamy’s embarrassing campaign that Modi indirectly rebuffed the BJP MP. Does it mean that if there was no interview, Swamy would not have been reprimanded at all?
The PM, inter alia, told the channel: “Whether it is in my party or not, I still think such things are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong.”
And look at Swamy’s gumption. Within hours, an irked Swamy conveyed that he is not dying for publicity. In a tweet, he said: “PTs: New problem: when publicity relentlessly seeks a politician. 30 OVs outside the house, 200 missed calls from channels and paparazzi?” In short, Swamy was telling Modi that he does not need publicity but publicity courts him.
And then he went a step further. Another tweet warned: “If I apply Samuelson-Swamy Theory of Index Numbers to India’s GDP calculation or RBI interest rates, media will scream anti-party activity!” Does it mean that government’s GDP figures are fudged?
Where does Swamy draw his power from that he can get even with the PM and get away? It is possible that he has the tacit backing of the RSS or is it that Modi is waiting for the appropriate time to call his bluff?
