Between them, newspaper headlines on Monday — “PM inducts go-getters & vote-getters”; “PM balances caste, merit” (why has the regional factor been left out?); “Modi expands cabinet, shrinks some ministers”; “21 Join Team Modi amidst Sena row”; and “Sulking Sena spoils rejig ecstasy”, to cite only a few — say it all about both the quality of the changes made and the motivation and calculation behind them.
It is perhaps needless to add that the last headline quoted above is from a newspaper controlled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. What has happened during the squabbling between the former allies that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered a clear message to allies, present or potential, that all alliances will have to be only on the BJP’s terms, to ensure which he would never hesitate to play hardball. The problem with the Sena’s supreme leader, Uddhav Thackeray, seems to be that he hasn’t yet grasped this message.
The BJP does lack a clear majority in the Maharashtra legislature. But its government has no problem about getting a vote of confidence in the House because an important element within Maharashtra’s powerplay is Pawar play. Since well before the declaration of all election results, the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar has been determined to give the BJP the necessary majority by abstaining from voting.
In his tantrum-filled “negotiations” with the BJP — the former junior partner of the Sena, now turned big brother — Mr Thackeray, lacking his father Balasaheb’s stature and authority, could not have been clumsier. With his party’s strength in the state legislature half of that of the BJP’s, he went on making extravagant demands that Mr Modi even refused to listen to. Yet, Mr Thackeray went on making flip-flops.
On Sunday, the day of the Cabinet expansion, he sent his nominee, Anil Desai, to Delhi to be sworn in as a minister and then ordered him to return to Mumbai from Indira Gandhi International airport, without stepping into the national capital. Could anything have been more bizarre? While Mr Desai was flying back, a Shiv Sena veteran, Suresh Prabhu, resigned from the Sena, joined the BJP almost instantly, and was sworn in as a Cabinet minister. Now that Mr Thackeray has announced that his party will sit on the Opposition benches — a strange sight of two parties divided by common ideology — it would be no surprise if some more Sainiks also vote with their feet.
The other clear message of the ministerial “rejig” is that the BJP is concentrating on the two major states in the north, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, that would be going to the polls in 2017 and 2015 respectively. The saffron party is anxious to win them both. So among the 21 new ministers that have joined the Modi team four are from Uttar Pradesh and three from Bihar.
Caste calculus has been handled carefully. In Bihar, emphasis seems to be on consolidating the support of upper castes though the OBCs have not been neglected. In Haryana where, after long years, the BJP has formed a government headed by a non-Jat, Birender Singh, who dumped the Congress, is now a Cabinet minister and the ruling party’s Jat face. More examples are unnecessary. But it must be noted that of the 21 new ministers inducted by Mr Modi in his council of ministers, only one belongs to an ally, the Telugu Desam Party and the rest are all BJP loyalists. It might be added with the new entrants the strength of the Modi ministerial team has increased to 66, only 12 less than that of the United Progressive Alliance government at its peak.
Since West Bengal, like Uttar Pradesh, will also be electing a new Assembly in 2017, Mr Modi has brought into his team a Bollywood singer whose political career began only a few months ago when he won one of the two parliamentary seats in that state. This is expected to augment the rise of the BJP in a state where it had little following. There is little doubt that this party is now becoming the main rival of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress that rules the state at present.
Credit must be given where credit is due. The Prime Minister has certainly given importance to merit. The appointment of the former Goa chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, as defence minister deserves a welcome. He has all the qualifications to fill the gaps in national defence caused by inaction of the previous defence minister, A.K. Antony. He has already said that he would have to act “on war footing”. Suresh Prabhu, now in-charge of railways, has been a competent power minister before.
Some other talented MPs have also been made ministers. It is also makes sense that, after shedding the additional burden of defence, finance minister Arun Jaitley has taken charge of information and broadcasting. The demotion of the railway and health ministers, who were unequal to the tasks allotted to them, needs to be applauded. For performance, not loyalty or any other consideration, should determine the careers of politicians and bureaucrats alike.
Sadly, some terrible things have also been done while expanding and reshuffling the council of ministers. One of the 21 chosen new entrants, Ram Shankar Katheria, a two-time MP and reportedly a professor, has no fewer than 23 criminal cases, including one for attempted murder, against him. An accused in a case of rape in Rajasthan has been a minister since May 26.
Far more deplorable is the appointment as minister for micro, small and medium enterprises of Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar leader from Bihar. It is he who, during the election campaign, had declared that there was no place in India for those apposing Mr Modi, and therefore they must be sent to Pakistan. He never retracted from this reprehensible statement. Instead he repeated it more emphatically. Yet, instead of being reprimanded and disciplined, he has been rewarded.
