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Political Exigency

The just concluded cabinet reshuffle has generated a lot of discussion. The BJP led NDA government, which came back to power in June 2019, had a lot on its plate for the last two years. First it was the political opposition to the abrogation of the special status to J&K, immediately followed by country-wide protests in the wake of the CAA-NRC. Next came the Covid19 pandemic and the need to focus the entire might of the government machinery to fight the surge. In-between the government's decision to bring in the much-awaited farm reforms resulted in the siege of Delhi by agitated farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. 

Indian parliamentary system is based on the time-tested British model with the prime minister as head of the cabinet. Each of the minister and ministry has autonomy but are accountable to the parliament. There is apprehension that the present government has moved away from collective responsibility to being run and managed by the PMO. This means that the minister has very little power and therefore cannot be directly held responsible for the failure or lack of effort. So, when a few prominent ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Prakash Javadekar were dropped on the pretext of holding them responsible for not carrying out their ministerial duty diligently, the opposition smelt a whiff of hypocrisy. 

The bad press over the handling of the Covid 19 pandemic had put the government on the back foot. The union government's response to the second wave was slow and halted. From the shortage in the supply of oxygen to hospitals to the mismanagement of the vaccination process, the government deservedly got bad press. The pressure was mounting on the prime minister and the disastrous results in Bengal election was the last straw. Every time the government in the last seven years has been on the back foot it has successfully countered it by changing the goal post. Who can forget the hyper nationalist narrative to counter the twin disasters of demonitisation and the resultant economic downslide.

The recent cabinet expansion has two main objectives- course correction and political messaging. Many ministries are faltering and there was a need to bring in accountability and infuse fresh blood. At the same time, Bengal elections has many lessons for the BJP. Representation is important- regional and social. The inductees are more representative of India- region-wise and social makeup. You cannot win an election simply by upping the rhetoric during campaigning and hoping for polarisation of votes. In the name of economic empowerment other divisions in the society can be overlooked, but when there is large scale economic distress in the country, one needs to go back to the basics. Political empowerment of many sections of the society is symbolic but also has a large social purpose of inclusiveness. The cabinet rejig has all the elements of an inclusive Hindutva as the new mantra of the Modi government. 

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