Twelve members of the Council of Ministers resigned and with new inductions the cabinet size has increased from 53 to 77. The cabinet is Bharatiya Janata Party but has a fair sprinkling of representatives from other parties. In age, it is the youngest cabinet ever, it has a mix of experience and first timers whose performance will decide their future. It has also the imports from other parties such as Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane.
Ejected from the cabinet were Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, I&B Minister and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and others. The latter two – Prasad and Javadekar – were known loyalists and had come to the defence of the Prime Minister on almost every issue. Reports state that the dropping of the ministers followed a month-long exercise that assessed the performance of each minister. In that respect after the skyrocketing COVID-19 cases and deaths the Union Health Minister had to go. His deputy too has been dropped, and this can be construed to be a tacit admission that the ministry failed in controlling the pandemic.
While image building may be what led to some of the changes in the cabinet, for the people of India it is governance that matters. The debacle of the COVID-19 pandemic management will not be forgotten for a long time to come. There have been over four lakh deaths in the country and cases have crossed three crore. The lockdown of March 2020 that was announced with a four-hour notice that led to lakhs of migrant labourers walking mile and mile to the safety of their villages. Those visuals remain imprinted in the minds of Indians and cannot be easily erased. The rising fuel prices, with petrol having crossed the Rs 100 mark in some States is only fueling discontent. Who has been responsible?
Unless the new ministers are able to reverse some of these spiraling trends the reshuffle brought about in the ministry will make no difference to the common man. Will the new team heading the Health ministry perform better than the one that has been ousted is a question that will be answered in the immediate weeks ahead? There are predictions that a third wave of the COVID pandemic could hit the country. India needs to prepare and reports state that the outgoing minster was in the midst of a meeting discussion the strategy for the next wave when he got the call to tender his resignation. The new team, therefore, does not have much time on hand.
On the other hand, Prasad and Javadekar who are no longer ministers are likely to plunge into the party organisation and give it a boost before the State elections, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, loom just seven to eight months from now. Gujarat will go to the polls towards the end of 2022, all important states for the Bharatiya Janata Party, not leaving out Goa that has in the past acted as a sort of talisman for the party, with government formation in this State leading to victory at the Centre. After the debacle in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party needs a shakeup at the party level and more experienced hands at the till will benefit the party immensely. The reshuffle therefore balances the needs of a quick image makeover after the criticism that the government has faced and also positions the point men for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
