Articles

The measure of a man is what he does with power.”  Plato Democracy sans a credible leader is an edifice built by ignoring the basic tenets of the architecture of statecraft. In a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister shapes the government based on his or her own sense of national symmetry. Last week, when Narendra Modi expanded and reshuffled his council of ministers, he demolished the inflated egos of many masters of mass interpretation. He didn’t bow to the wishes of know-all political panjandrums. “To be seen in India, understand the scene in India” is his message.

The Cabinet reconfiguring exercise was aimed at ensuring political equality. Corporate-sponsored opinion-makers expected the PM to induct foreign-educated technocrats. Unelectable factional leaders in the government expected their favourites to find a seat at the high table. Caste and community nabobs sought promotion and highly remunerative perches. Strangely, everyone accepts that choosing the A-team is the PM’s prerogative. But with freedom of expression being a free for all, India is perhaps the only country where the PM is flooded with unsolicited advice on almost every matter, including the colour and composition of his Cabinet. Self-styled experts pounce on him when their sermons are ignored. Even before last week’s reshuffle, both insiders and outsiders floated numerous names and ideas. When their acolytes were missing from Modi’s list, they began finding fault with the ministers who were retained, shifted or sidelined. But Modi’s message was loud and clear: It is a government of Modi, by Modi and for Modi.

Late last year, the PM was attending a dinner hosted by a Union minister. To a question by a journalist on Cabinet expansion, Modi curtly answered that he will do the needful if and when required, and that it is he alone, and not even the host, who knows its timing and the names of rookie ministers. Few months later,  overhaul of portfolios and the induction of new junior ministers generated shock and awe. Barring Home Minister Rajnath Singh, all other mega-mantris found their MoS replaced by ones who enjoyed the complete trust of the Modi-Amit Shah combine. For the first time, perfect coordination between the party chief and head of the government was apparent. They and the RSS were on the same page, since most newbies were its hardcore saffron loyalists. Smriti Irani’s unexpected transfer and Prakash Javadekar’s elevation are meant to safeguard the saffron agenda.

The surprises didn’t stop there. Modi and Shah chose grassroots workers who had no godfathers. Since the PM himself rose from the bottom up, he rewarded only those who have been winning elections for decades, but had lost out to losers when it came to ministerial berths. The latest restructuring of the ministries is the beginning of the complete Modification of the government. In May 2014, he accepted a Cabinet contingent, which was conceived by others. Contrary to general belief, this time Modi has chosen people who will be part of his Team-2019’s enterprise to win the Lok Sabha elections. Some of them may return to their states later, as party chiefs or chief ministers. By giving them a place at the Centre, Modi wants to raise their status and clout in their states. It’s not just a coincidence that most new faces have been enlisted from states going to the ballot in the next two years. These were under-represented in Delhi.

 Another significant feature of the reshuffle was that Modi has given powerful and experienced junior ministries super-wattage portfolios such as Finance, Railways, Defence and External Affairs. He removed the controversial Rao Inderjit Singh from Defence. He appointed veteran Rajasthan leader Arjun Ram Meghwal as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. Meghwal, once the chief whip of the BJP parliamentary party, is considered to be close to the Prime Minister. Modi gave more powers to party treasurer Piyush Goyal by adding the Mines portfolio to his existing charges of Power, Coal and Non-renewable Energy. The retentions of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma and the elevation of Manoj Sinha as MoS (Independent Charge) for Environment are clear indications of the valedictory fate that awaits some of the ageing and ailing ministers.

Modi has reiterated his resolve that only those elected politicians, who have the chutzpah to sack technocrats obstructing the Modi Mantra of governance and development, will rule the nation. He is miffed by pressure groups with vested interests, which want outsiders to perform a political role in the government. A PMO source pointed out that even the most developed and mature democracies such as Great Britain and Germany are ruled by the political class exclusively. For example, all the 22 ministers, including the finance minister, in Britain’s David Cameron government are elected representatives of the ruling party. Even the Attorney General is a politician. The Chief Secretary of the treasury belongs to the ruling party. Seven of the eight junior ministers who are invited to Cabinet meetings are Tories. In Germany, all 16 ministers in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet are politicos.

In India, which is used to market economists in government, those who want to impose the American model of doing business are hostile to homegrown and down-to-earth politicians like Modi dictating the course and contours of governance. Modi’s memo was: There is no place for those who haven’t been baptised in the unforgiving furnace of electoral fires; in short, ‘we will hire or fire at will, punishing those who root for market-driven politics above our development mission’. The Prime Minister has once again established the supremacy of the elected leadership. In a democracy, those with pretended pedigree and purchased degrees will have to be less equal to those chosen by voters. Take it or leave it.