Take a bow, Defence Minister

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 3

It was a big day for women empowerment with Nirmala Sitharaman being appointed as India’s first full-time woman  Defence Minister. Her promotion was by far the biggest statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who today recast his Council of Ministers with four new Cabinet Ministers and nine Ministers of State, four of them former bureaucrats.

Edit: Re-mulching the cabinet

The Defence portfolio was held by Indira Gandhi too, but as Prime Minister.

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 Sitharaman, who will take charge after two days following the return of incumbent Arun Jaitley from Japan, will now be a part of the all-important Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS) — the second woman minister on the panel along with Sushma Swaraj. For the first time, the CCS will have two women on board.

The three Ministers of State to be elevated to the Cabinet rank on the basis of their “performance” are Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, all Rajya Sabha MPs and considered close to Leader of the House Arun Jaitley, who will now be looking after Finance and Corporate Affairs.

Jaitley said the allocations were based on “competence and who could perform well in which ministry” after a close monitoring of the performance of each ministry and its ministers by the PM.

Goyal replaces Suresh Prabhu in the beleaguered Railway Ministry, who will fill in for Sitharaman in the Commerce and Industry Ministry but as Cabinet Minister.

Political compulsions

Apart from governance capabilities, the PM has taken care of BJP’s political requirements. Pradhan’s elevation is clearly to give him a stature to counter BJD leader and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. Odisha is due for elections in two years, along with the General Election.

Petroleum Minister Pradhan gets the portfolio close to the PM’s heart — Skill Development and Entrepreneurship — earlier held by Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was asked to put in his papers.

The elevation of BJP’s Muslim face Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to the Cabinet rank and  the inclusion of Alphons Kannanthanam, a Christian, and Hardeep Singh Puri, a Sikh, in Modi’s team are attempts at balancing region and caste equations as well as giving representation to religious minorities.

 Alphons comes with an added advantage. He belongs to Kerala, a state where the saffron party is working hard to emerge as a potent force.

Among the nine new ministers, three are Brahmins (Shiv Pratap Shukla, Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Anant Kumar Hegde), two are Rajputs (RK Singh and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat), one a Jat-OBC (Satya Pal Singh) and one a Dalit (Virendra Kumar). The inclusion of Shukla and Choubey appears to be aimed at pleasing the Brahmin constituency in UP and Bihar.

Gainers and losers 

Apart from Sitharaman, the other big gainers are Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Harsh  Vardhan and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Textile Minister Irani retains the Information and Broadcasting charge given to her after M Venkaiah Naidu became the country’s Vice-President. Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan too retains the charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari gets an additional portfolio of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, earlier held by Uma Bharti, who has been shifted to a relatively low-profile Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore replaces Vijay Goel in the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry, getting independent charge. Goel has been shifted to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Statistics and Programme Implementation. Narendra Singh Tomar takes over the Mines and Rural Development Ministries.

Ex-bureaucrats

With four former top bureaucrats — Hardeep Singh Puri, RK Singh, Satya Pal Singh and Alphons Kannanthanam — in the Council of Ministers, the PM’s effort is to give a fresh impetus to governance.

Countering Congress’ allegation on “lack of talent in the BJP pool” and Modi not trusting his political colleagues, Jaitley observed: “How can the UPA say this? Their own PM (Manmohan Singh) came from the same background.” Interestingly, no new representation was given to poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in the reshuffle.

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PM has sent a very big message. Everything Indian women were waiting for… it is for us to work through and perform (to achieve it). I am overwhelmed. It is a huge responsibility… I also want to see the files (on women in combat roles) where they stand. — Nirmala Sitharaman