Prime Minister’s mantra: Perform or perish
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi brings new Ministers to his team, he sends out a loud and clear message to his colleagues: Either perform or perish. The re-shuffling done was much awaited after a gap of two years of his Government in office. While choosing the new Ministers and changing portfolios, Modi brought home the fact that he prefers action from his Ministers over unnecessary controversy. His Government stands by transparency, accountability and performance to deliver what the party had promised during the time of election. Sensing the popular mood of the academia and snowballing of controversies by Smriti Irani, her removal from the prestigious Ministry of Human Resources Development was a timely decision and, in fact, her portfolio should have been changed much earlier.
Given her lack of previous experience in administration, she should have been allotted a lighter portfolio in the beginning. The HRD Ministry demands a matured politician who understands the liberal ethos of academic institutions across the country wherein a culture of open debate and dialogue forms the part of regular discourse. Now handing over the Ministry to Prakash Javadekar who has a record of achieving higher performance is a sensible step that Modi has taken much before the crucial Assembly elections in few States.
Venkaiah Naidu, being a senior parliamentarian and a consistent performer, rightly deserves the sensitive Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Inducting young faces like Anupriya Patel from the NDA ally Apna Dal will send a positive signal to the large Kurmi community in Uttar Pradesh. Also introducing brand new faces like Anil Madhav Dave as Minister of State (independent charge) for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, without having any experience in Government is surprising, but his strong credentials in the past for working in environment-related issues will be an invaluable asset. As the focus is now on eastern Uttar Pradesh, getting two new faces like Patel and the BJP MP from Chandauli, Mahendra Nath, as Ministers in the new Cabinet will go a long way to drum support for the party in the coming Assembly poll. But all is not well when Jayant Sinha, the Minister of State, Finance was transferred at the same rank to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, despite his good performance.
The expansion of the Ministry is been seen as almost redrawing of his entire team which is the result of his close door meetings followed by strict appraisal of all the ministries in the last three months. The much talked about rejig reflects the style of functioning and the core values of the Government which Modi has been trying to build since he came to power. The expectation from the new members is thus clearly reflected in a message circulated by the Prime Minister's Office after the swearing-in ceremony: “The new Ministry will be strategically deployed to further the priority areas of the government”. Sensing the popular mood and large following of Moditva by the young generation, Team Modi must ensure that the slogan, ‘saabka saath saabka vikas’ comes into reality. This rejig provides an accurate snapshot of the Modi way of working where administration doesn’t happen on an island.