Is PM Narendra Modi’s Cabinet All-representative?

Sunil Garodia, TIR, 28 May 2014: The Narendra Modi initial cabinet is a mix of experienced hands and newcomers. Although it is a lean cabinet, the way several ministers have been given additional responsibilities means that there will be an expansion soon. Let us look at it under several parameters in fashion in the media: - 

If a map of India is drawn, only Kerala in the south; West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur in the East and North-East; and Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh in the north remain unrepresented. Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman, not being members of either house of parliament, are not included in this list. Rajasthan is grossly under-represented as there is only one minister from 25 MPs. Also, in a first of its kind, both the Bangalore MPs, Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South and D V Sadananda Gowda from Bangalore North have been made cabinet ministers.

Gender wise

The cabinet has 7 women as ministers in Najma Heptulla, Sushma Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi and Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Out of these, Irani, Sitharaman and Badal are first timers. While Badal is ally SAD’s choice, Irani has earned the berth as she is seen close to Modi and did excellent work as BJP Vice President while Sitharaman operates a think tank in Hyderabad and is seen as a bright star.

Asset-wise

Arun Jaitley is the richest cabinet minister with Rs 113 crore of declared assets. Harsimrat Kaur Badal is not far behind with over Rs 108.2 crore. At the bottom of the scale is Thavarchand Gehlot who has assets worth just under a crore.

Minority-wise

With BJP having no Muslim MPs, this was a tricky area. Hence, Modi has called upon the party’s most known face from the minority community – Najma Heptulla to handle the minority affairs portfolio. Heptulla is a grand niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The party has three other prominent leaders in Shahnawaz Hussain, Mukhtar Naqvi and the recent recruit, journalist M J Akbar, to choose from when there is an expansion.

Age-wise

It is not a comparatively younger cabinet. While Smriti Irani is the youngest at 38, Najma Heptulla is the oldest at 74. The average age of the cabinet is just under 60.

Ally –wise

The cabinet has 5 ministers from among the NDA allies. Anant Geete (Shiv Sena), Ashok Gajapati Raju (TDP), Harsimrat Badal (SAD), Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP) and Upendra Kushwaha (RSLP) have made the cut.

There are several points where the BJP has done exactly what it used to criticize the Congress for:

1. It has inducted two ministers who are not members of either house of parliament. If technocrats were so inducted, it would have been agreeable, but politicians should always come up through elections to the Lok Sabha.
2. Then, it has made 8 ministers from the Rajya Sabha, which again is disturbing and lowers the prestige of the Lok Sabha. Whatever happened to the famed bench strength of the BJP?
3. No technocrats have been inducted. Given Modi’s style of functioning, there was a buzz in the market that some important ministries would headed by experienced technocrats. There was disappointment on this score.
4. Losers, most prominent among them being Arun Jaitley and Smriti Irani, were inducted. Although there is no law against this and they can always win a Lok Sabha seat in 6 months or come through Rajya Sabha, but the BJP had strongly objected to Shivraj Patil being made the home minister by the Congress after his loss in the 2004 elections.
5. Defectors, like Rao Inderjit Singh, have been rewarded.
6. Also, though the cabinet is lean (46, compared to UPAs 71) as of now the logical merging of departments is not visible. But these are early days and maybe the superfluous ministries will be done away with when there is an expansion.
7. The BJP has ignored apprehensions about vested interests and gone ahead to appoint a lawyer as the Law minister and a doctor as the Health minister.

But what has probably irked people most is the appointment of Sanjiv Balliyan, an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots as Minister of State (MoS). His appointment will send negative signals to the minorities, who were looking to the new government to heal wounds. On the other hand, it will embolden others to instigate mischief without fear of censure by the party. It is difficult to gauge the compulsions behind this appointment, but this is one false step that Modi could have avoided.

But by keeping dynasties out of his team, Modi has kept his promise of booting out bhai-bhatijavad from Indian politics. Although Piyush Goyal has been appointed, his father V P Goyal, a BJP MP, minister in Vajpayee cabinet and party treasurer in his lifetime, had passed away in 2008. Only Harsimrat Badal’s appointment is dynastic but that was a selection Akali Dal made from its quota. Modi has overlooked Anurag Thakur (son of former HP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal), Dushyant Singh (son of Vashundhara Raje), Poonam Mahajan (daughter of late Pramod Mahajan) and Jayant Sinha (son of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha) among other prominent names.

The cabinet has the stamp of Narendra Modi all over it. He has selected his team without pulls or pressures. Having done so, he might get an opportunity to control the team with an iron hand and get work done. On the flip side, he, and he alone, will be held accountable for the results. Whichever way one looks at it, a new beginning has been made.