After hogging the limelight over her unceremonious exit from the high-profile HRD Ministry, Smriti Irani remained in media focus on Wednesday too as a cross section of her own party leaders, journalists, students, and acamedicians gloated over her “fall from grace” and speculated over the reason for her shift to the less glamorous Textile Ministry.
But her Cabinet colleagues must have envied the attention Irani got, even if for all the wrong reasons, on a day when a host of them took charge and spelled out their priorities.
Irani’s successor Prakash Javadekar, who will take charge of the Ministry on Thursday, may have praised her work in the HRD Ministry, but he made a crucial point when he asserted that dialogue was the key to avoid agitations and that education is not a subject for party politics.
“I am a product of student agitation, so we will always talk with everybody. So with dialogues in place, there will be no necessity for agitation,” Javadekar said.
Javadekar’s word will be music to the ears for all those students and teachers who were forced to go on the agitational path under Irani in JNU, Hyderabad and Delhi universities.
Amid reports that BJP chief Amit Shah had been instrumental in her exit from the HRD Ministry, Irani tried to put on a brave front, saying her new Textiles portfolio signified the “faith” shown by the Prime Minister and the party in her capacity to perform.
Talking to reporters after taking charge of the new portfolio, she side-stepped questions about Amit Shah being behind her shift saying it is not individuals but the party that takes such decisions.
Asked if the move was to give her more time to focus on next year’s Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, she quoted a line from a popular Hindi song, “Kuchh toh log kahenge logon ka kaam hai kehna” (people are bound to say things because it is their job to say something).
Irani may claim that the PM has faith in her, but the fact remains that several top academicians had reportedly complained to Modi about her style of functioning and even top party leaders were unhappy with the way she treated them. She may have denied reports that she often flung files at her officials, but the fact remains that few ‘babus’ served under her for months at a stretch.
In removing her, Modi has sent a clear signal that he is the boss and no one from any other quarter can influence his decision. Incidentally, a section of hardliners in the Sangh Parivar were reportedly in favour of continuing with Irani as the HRD Minister. But Shah was reportedly not happy with the controversies that dogged Irani’s tenure as the HRD Minister, adversely impacting the image of the party.
On Wednesday several others Ministers also took charge of their new Ministries and promised to work for development, streamlining justice delivery system, early passage of the GST Bill and ensuring speedy implementation of projects.
Taking up his new assignment as law and Justice Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad emphasised that he will strive to find a “common ground” between the Government and the judiciary on the issue of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
The remarks assume significance in the backdrop of Government making efforts to iron out differences with the Supreme Court collegium on the memorandum of procedure (MoP) -- a document which guides the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
“We will be consulting, we will be meeting in an effort to find a common ground on the issue of judicial appointments... There is need to work in harmony...We respect the independence of the judiciary,” he told reporters.
Other Ministers included Anant Kumar, MJ Akbar, Anil Madhav Dave and Santosh Gangwar, Rajen Gohain who assumed office as Ministers of State for External Affairs, Environment, Finance and Railways respectively.
Taking over as Information and Broadcasting Minister from his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu justified the latest expansion of Union Council of Ministers, saying 78 Ministers for a country as large and diverse as India is certainly not large, rebutting Opposition’s charge of “maximum Government, minimum governance”.
lauding Modi, Naidu said he is the “hope of the nation” and after long time there is a combination of stable Government and able leader. Claiming that the whole country is in favour of GST, Ananth Kumar, who has got Parliamentary Affairs Ministry in addition to existing Chemicals & Fertilisers portfolio, said passage of this “very important” Bill will be his priority for which Government will talk to all political parties.
“GST is a very important Bill. The whole country is in favour of passing this Bill as early as possible. We will talk, discuss and request all political parties that this bill should be passed in this session (Monsoon), so that it can be implemented as early as possible,” he told reporters after assuming his new charge.
Gangwar too expressed confidence of getting the much- delayed GST Bill passed in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. Gangwar, who was on Tuesday shifted from the Textiles Ministry to the all-important Finance Ministry, assumed charge along with Arjun Ram Meghwal, who has also been made a Minister of State in the Finance Ministry.
Asserting that development and environment go together and are “not against” each other, Dave said all projects undertaken by his predecessor will continue although he would take a week’s time to understand the functioning of the department.
Gohain, who is among the new faces in the Union Government, said safety and security of passengers as well as expansion of rail connectivity in the entire North East will be his top priority. “I am from North East region. These States are hilly region. So getting rail connectivity in the region is a difficult task. But our government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to provide rail connectivity to all states of North East by 2020 and we will work towards the goal,” he said.
S S Ahluwalia, the new Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said his focus will be to accelerate development of agriculture sector and reaching out to the farmers. He also took charge as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. Jayant Sinha, who was shifted from Finance Ministry, also took charge as Minister of State for Civil Aviation.
Narendra Singh Tomar, after taking charge as Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, said the real development of India is closely linked to the development of rural India.
Piyush Goyal, who has been given charge of Mines Ministry, also took charge of it. This is in addition to Goyal’s current charge as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy.
Newly-appointed MoS in HRD Ministry Mahendra Nath Pandey said his priority was on making quality education accessible to all the citizens of India.
After assuming charge as new Minister of State in the law Ministry, PP Choudhary, said it will be an opportunity for him to work for the common man in ensuring timely justice.
Rajya Sabha MP from Maharastra, Ramdas Athawale, who has been appointed as Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, said ensuring welfare of Dalits will be his priority.
Ajay Tamta also took charge as Minister of State for Textiles while Vijay Goel assumed charge as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.
Aanother Minister CR Chaudhary, appointed MOS Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said proper marketing mechanism was the need of hour to save farmers from losses.