Modi Cabinet Reshuffle: 5 Key Takeaways

BENGALURU: A major expansion of PM Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers was carried out on Tuesday. This revamp inducted 19 new faces, including several dalit and OBC leaders as well as from poll-bound states like UP as reported by The Times Of India. We look at 5 key takeaways from this Cabinet Reshuffle.

Knowledge, Skill, and Vigor

New ministers bearing unique rich experience and expertise were identified and added to the cabinet. This included a senior Supreme Court advocate, P P Chaudhary, a well-known doctor with a super specialisation in cancer surgery, Subhash Ram Rao Bhamre, and a veteran editor and internationally acclaimed journalist, M J Akbar. For new perspective and exuberance, fresh talent was also considered which includes Anupriya Patel and Mansukh Mandaviya (from the agriculture sector in Gujarat)

No promotions, except one!

Prakash Javadekar was elevated to the Cabinet rank and given the chores of HRD ministry. This also meant the sacking of Smriti Irani, who was assigned Textile ministry. Prakash Javadekar was the minister of state for environment and forests earlier. No other changes were made at the Cabinet level, apart from Javadekar.

No place for Shiv Sena

The second expansion of Modi's ministry didn’t figure Shiv Sena. This is very significantly as reports had come that that Shiv Sena’s tensions with BJP may have begun to heal

17 ministers from BJP

17 out of 19 newly appointed ministers are from BJP, which is a hefty number if considered. Ramdas Athawale, a Rajya Sabha MP from RPI, and Anupriya Singh Patel of Apna Dal were the only two ministers that were appointed and were not from BJP.

Focus on performers

The ministers who can be expected to deliver on his vision of development and good governance were handpicked by the PM. The list of this "doers and performers" include those who has a focus on "gaon, garib, kisan (village, poor, farmer)"

Calculative steps towards UP poll

Weaning Dalit castes outside BSP chief Mayawati's core constituency of Jatavs is one of the main political strategy of BJP in Uttar Pradesh. With early opinion polls pointing to a close race between BJP, BSP and the Akhilesh Yadav-led ruling Samajwadi Party, this reshuffle was a calculative move. A trio of a non-Yadav backward, a non-Jatav Dalit and a Brahmin minister has been hand-picked by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Uttar Pradesh which will in turn benefit BJP in UP.

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