Cabinet 'Modified': Afternoon of Long Knives Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Harsh Vardhan among 12 ministers sacked

President Ram Nath Kovind administers oath of office and secrecy to cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju, at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, Wednesday, July 7, 2021.: PTI

Paran Balakrishnan   |   TT |  New Delhi   |   07.07.21: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-awaited cabinet expansion turned into the Afternoon of the Long Knives with high-profile figures like Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad becoming last-minute casualties along with 10 other ministers who’ve been dropped.

Another prominent casualty was Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan who’s been under heavy fire for his handling of the pandemic.

In his first cabinet shake-up since his sweeping 2019 re-election win, Modi brought in a total of 43 cabinet ministers, including 15 new members. The Modi government, which used to criticise the previous Congress government for its jumbo-sized ministerial team, now has a total of 78 ministers -- close to the maximum permitted limit of 81. Modi is not expected to make changes in the core ministries despite speculation over the fate of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"The resignations of the Union Health Minister and the Minister of State Health is a candid confession that the Modi government has utterly failed in managing the pandemic,” tweeted senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram.

Among the surprise inclusions and new faces are businessman and media baron Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who’s a government newcomer, and lawyer Meenakshi Lekhi. Ex-bureaucrats like Hardeep Singh Puri and R. K. Singh, who were ministers of state with independent charge, have also been promoted to cabinet rank. 

Other ministers who were promoted were the minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur and MOS Home Kiran Rijuju, both been highly visible figures in the government so far. Another noteworthy inclusion was Bhupendra Yadav, who’s regarded as a key political strategist. Also, Ashwani Vaishnav, who was in the Vajpayee PMO, may get charge of a prominent ministry.

Others inducted as ministers are Maharashtra’s Narayan Rane and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who’s being rewarded for helping topple the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Another expected inclusion is former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal. 

Key figures who were dropped were HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, who failed to build a strong position in the ministry and Fertilisers Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda.

The reshuffle shows that the BJP has paid particular attention to Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra and that it has also attempted extremely careful caste engineering. There are seven ministers from Uttar Pradesh and, noticeably, they each represent key regions in the state. Reflecting caste sensibilities, in Gujarat, for instance, it’s brought in three Patels and three OBCs. 

Unusually, the government also released information about the caste and subcastes of the new ministers who are being brought in, indicating considerable thought had been given to this issue even though the national elections are almost three years away.

The reshuffle has reduced the average age of the council of ministers to 58 from 61. The youngest new minister is Nisith Pramanik, 35, from Cooch Behar.

The fates of Broadcasting Minister Javadekar and Information Technology Minister Prasad were among the day’s biggest surprises. There’s speculation their handling of Twitter and also the attempts to bring online portals in line, which have attracted unfavourable international attention, may have been the reason they were asked to step down. Also, the last-minute announcement of their names indicates that considerable bargaining must have been going on.

The Modi government has faced considerable setbacks since returning to power. Most importantly, it has been accused of failing to tackle the pandemic properly and get enough vaccines ready on time. Besides that, it’s also been accused of mismanaging the economy even before the pandemic struck.

Four ministers have been inducted from Bengal, meanwhile, indicating that the BJP has not given up on the state even after its recent defeat in the assembly elections. The BJP had done well in the assembly constituencies of the ministers who have been inducted. By contrast, the party fared poorly in the assembly constituencies represented by Babool Supriyo who’s been dropped.

The reshuffle had to take place to make room for figures like Scindia and Sonowal and also because several ministers, including Piyush Goyal, were in charge of multiple ministries.