With a few broad brushstrokes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completely remodelled his Council of Ministers. It is not just that Tuesday’s rejig is his most expansive since 2014 in terms of the number of Ministers inducted (19), sent packing (five) and transferred (including the big swap at the Human Resource Development Ministry). With the portfolio allotment and the manner of announcing it, by holding back the big surprises for hours after the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr. Modi has sent out the signal that he is his own man. As with all reshuffles, there are losers and gainers in relative terms. But it has been sought to be conveyed that the sum of these losses and gains is the profile of a Prime Minister in firm control of his Ministry — of someone conscious of the authority he wields with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, and equally, someone who is no longer a stranger to New Delhi and therefore in need of guidance to negotiate his way. Basically, Mr. Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah have made clear that to read the reason for a portfolio allotment or change one needs to map the straight line of accountability between the Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office. There are no concessions to regional satraps. Even the nod to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in Nagpur is through the agenda, and not personnel.
Mr. Modi has clearly traded the promise of a lean Ministry in the “minimum government, maximum governance” credo for electoral considerations by expanding the Ministry. The emphasis is on bringing in more Ministers to give an edge to the Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat Assembly election campaigns in the months ahead, and careful arithmetic in inducting Dalit, OBC and tribal leaders is evident. The inclusion of Anupriya Patel, whose U.P.-based Apna Dal is on the brink of merging itself with the BJP and who is a Kurmi, is a good example. Induction of Dalit Ministers is an effort to right their under-representation in the Ministry and to take the edge off the BSP and Aam Aadmi Party challenge in U.P. and Punjab, respectively. But this flabbiness is restricted to the junior levels of the Ministry. At the top, by taking away the Information and Broadcasting portfolio from Arun Jaitley and by replacing Smriti Irani in the HRD Ministry by promoting Prakash Javadekar, Mr. Modi has made clear that he does not perceive shortcomings in his government’s agenda or performance, but is impatient with cacophony. This has been a highly controlled exercise, one that will consolidate his grip on power, a prospect that will worry his political rivals as well as some within his own party, a cadre-based organisation on which he has firmly stamped his authority.
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