The writer is a former editor of the Mumbai-based English newspaper Mid Day and the Gujarati paper Divya Bhaskar. His book Translating Saadat Hasan Manto’s non-fiction work will be published this year aakar.patel@tribune.com.pk
To understand that, first let’s have a look at how he governed Gujarat. In the state, Modi personally held several ministries that he was interested in. These included home, industries, mines and minerals, energy, petrochemicals, ports, information and the giant irrigation project of Narmada. That is to say, he was interested in the business side of government ministries and in those portfolios affecting corporations like Reliance, Adani, Essar, Tata and Torrent. He did this to ensure he could deliver growth and at this we must accept he was successful.
He never kept the portfolios of things such as health and education, presumably because these did not interest him as much. He controlled policy and execution with the help of a minister of state (Saurabh Patel), and a team of bureaucrats whom he trusted.
As prime minister, he has chosen to keep only a very few ministries, including personnel, atomic energy and space, with himself. So is he developing a new style? I would say that in fact he is sticking to his familiar ways because that is how he operates best.
But he has done it differently. Let’s see how. The only ministry he has really let go of from the list above is home, which has been given to former Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh. And we must wait for details on what that portfolio actually comprises, given that the Central Bureau of Investigation operates under the ministry of personnel, which is under Modi.
Of the other big three central ministries, two, finance and defence, are with Arun Jaitley. Though he is a Punjabi, Jaitley has been a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat for 15 years and totally beholden to Modi. He lost the election and is only minister because Modi trusts him. Jaitley also holds the ministry for corporate affairs, which is linked to Modi favourites.
The fourth important ministry is external affairs. This was given to someone whom Modi does not like, Sushma Swaraj. However, the prime minister is required to be personally active in this space, and as we found out with the Saarc meetings, especially with Nawaz Sharif, Modi is the man who does much of the work. He need not be worried about losing control of that or of Sushma setting her own agenda.
That leaves us with the ministries Modi is actually interested in, the ones that drive business and growth. Here, Modi has done an unusual thing. He has removed all of them from the Cabinet and handed them to four ministers of state. And he has given all of them to people who are loyal to him personally, who owe their rise to him and will operate without independence.
The ministry for industrial policy and promotion, which deals with the private sector, is with a former spokeswoman, Nirmala Sitharaman, along with the ministry of commerce.
Power and coal are with minister of state Piyush Goel, another spokesperson and former party treasurer. Petroleum and natural gas, two of Modi’s most favourite subjects, are with minister of state Dharmendra Pradhan. Two other portfolios are of Modi’s interest. First is information and broadcasting, which he held himself in Gujarat and the other is the environment ministry. This is not a growth ministry by itself but has the capacity to be a hindrance, given the problems with clearances. These two ministries are held by another of Modi’s loyalists Prakash Javdekar.
These people are first-time ministers, none of them will be in the Cabinet and that means all will work with Modi and his team of bureaucrats. This means, effectively, that Modi will be personally setting the goals and targets in these ministries.
We should expect that most of his development agenda will be powered through these ministers of state. Modi will be pleased with the way in which he has distributed the portfolios. It appears at first glance as if it will be a different style from the one in Gujarat. But a closer look reveals the same instincts at work.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2014.
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A heavily moderated write up.Mohummudun Cant accept a challenge
@Rakib: First reason for Rao earning wrath of Gandhis after Indira death was his ambition to pip Rajiv to post of PM.
PVN became the Prime Minister after Rajiv's death . He received the full approval of Sonia Gandhi at the time. He became untouchable by the congress due to his tacit approval in the Babri Masjid demolition.
Congress feared the erosion of its vote bank which did happen but majorly in UP where the Muslim vote switched to Mulayam Singh for his role in Handling the Kar Sevaks during the rath Yatra However at the National level, by marginalising PVN, Congress avoided the erosion of its vote bank at the National level.
Mr Aakar Patel why did you drop "Ahmed" from your middle name ?
@Dr Priyanka: Very well said Dr. Priyanka and excellent way of Modi's advocacy but unimpressive but Pakistan's and India's strong,stable and permanent friendship only and only depends upon the Kashmir's issue's resolution and India is showing dishonesty and insincerity on Kashmir's issue since 1948 most especially importantly since 1971 and as usual India is declaring Kashmir its integral part instead of disputed territory and resolvable on the top most priority basis.....
@Aschraful Makhlooq: Modi will not tolerate mischief at the borders. All the Kashmiri pandits who were living in camps will be relocated to Kashmir. In fact the process is in the pipeline. Hopefully there should not be any corruption. We know he has not done anything for his own family. Another such sincere leader is Mamata Banerji.
A leopard cannot change its spots.
In Modi's regime I am sure that India shall be in conflicts and confrontations with its neighbor countries most especially on the borders because Modi has been the part of Hindu Extremist Group....
@Rakib: While I do not condone the demolition of the Babri Masjid, I have read in detail from multiple sources on the matter and the amount of subterfuge that went on spanning multiple decades is also responsible for the situation. This neglected and unused edifice could have been made a symbol of peace between the two communities. Instead the secular fabric of the country was torn to shreds by not allowing the ASI to even conduct spot excavations in a disputed piece of land which subsequent to the unfortunate demolition established an underlying structure.
In the above posts, I merely refer to P. V. Narasimha Rao's iron will based on my own personal perception which really doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I have not studied Rao enough to make an objective assessment. Maybe you are in a better position to do this, but Rakib I have seen that on certain matters you too can be prejudiced.
@Rakib: That act has the tacit appro.val of Rao the then PM he was also a religious man he desired that structure may fall and a Mandir may come up
@Kalashwala.: Modi has not been appointed the Sessions Judge that he will exonerate Shah he is the PM of India and you know very well the the former PM was not able to save his cabinet collegue from going to jail
@Strategic Asset: (Yes, P. V. Narasimha Rao should be up there except that most Indians haven’t heard of him.)
First reason for Rao earning wrath of Gandhis after Indira death was his ambition to pip Rajiv to post of PM. After JMM case began against him no Congressman came near him for fear of contamination. For many his failure was on 6th December-92. Sources reveal he knew what was going to happen that day & sat down in closed room for worship (puja) with instructions that he shouldn't be disturbed come what may. As hammers & pickaxe of Advani's acolytes began wounding the secular soul of India at Ayodhya the PM was incommunicado. Rao the Pilate washed his hands off the affair. But then came the finest moment of Rao's service to nation that few recall. In 1993-94 when musical chairs was going on among Sharif-Qureshi-Benazir Pakistan made a determined bid to get India censured for violations at Human Rights Meeting. Rao did the unusual. He asked Leader of Opposition Orator Vajpayee to lead Indian delegation & worked thru Dinesh Singh with Iran to get the Pak motion defeated. India won the day.. I am sorry he is not remembered; I am glad he is forgotten.
@Rajesh NYC:
When did jaitley become a kashmiri caste...i am from kashmir...i live in kashmir...to which kashmiri caste does he belong to?
@Gratgy: Yes, P. V. Narasimha Rao should be up there except that most Indians haven't heard of him. Among the plethora of schemes in the name of Gandhi, Nehru and even Rajiv Gandhi, I doubt that the Congress named one scheme or airport or railway station or road after him.
Vajpayee did not come to my mind when I wrote the above because I was out of India during his term.
@Sinclair: Absolutely agree, a dysfunctional cabinet and also a dysfunctional party. However what really gets my goat when I meet Congress leaders is their absolute and unbridled faith towards the first family. Seemingly intelligent people turn into morons at the hands of the high command.
Modi has the right to have his Cabinet as he pleases. Nehru's first cabinet had 15 ministers, PVN Rao had 60 & he was criticised for that. Admin Reforms Committee (ARC) had a Study Team that suggested limiting number of Cabinet to 12. ARC rejected it on two grounds: (a) efficiency would suffer if too many ministries are clubbed with a single minister & (b) in a Federal set up it's important to give representation to each region. Finally it was suggested that Cabinet may be of 40-45 Ministers with 16 Cabinet rank ministers. Modi has done better in terms of numbers since unlike ABV or MMS he doesn't have to worry about coalition/Region much. However, real issue is different. In making sure there is no discord, Modi will stifle debate.. With the exception of Jaitley, Rajnath, (may be Swaraj) rest are mere fawning, nodding pawns. Principle of Collective Responsibility of the Cabinet will stay so that the herd behaves but that of Individual & Moral Responsibility of Ministers to Parliament will evaporate & that will suit these pawns. And it would suit the IAS-Indian counterparts of Sir Humphrey Appleby (of 'Yes Minister' fame) even better. Modi's ideal is not Vajpayee, not Modi the CM, it's Indira Gandhi.
Good analysis
@Strategic Asset
With respect to the GOMs and EGOMs, I think the youth of today have not known a government which functioned without them. The final authority in the government is always the Prime Minister. Only MMS was averse to exerting his authority, because he had no legitimacy. For inter-ministerial issues, it is always the Prime Minister who takes the final call. Not even the ruling party can play any role in it.
The UPA cabinet was dysfunctional, it is very rich to describe it as a consensus based governance. In the cabinet of GOI, whenever consensus is not possible, the Prime Minister's word should be final.
This write-up reveals the shape of things to come in India. He has not given importance to ministries which hold key for human development.We can expect high economic growth & low human development
@Dipak:
Calling Sonia Gandhi as "uneducated Italy borne woman" is same as calling PM Modi as "tea-wallah". It is no disqualification, it only shows that both of them came from simple backgrounds, both understand poverty.
Learn to accept that Sonia Gandhi is now a full Indian citizen.
@Strategic Asset:
From the economic perspective, Narasimha Rao was the best PM India has had till now, the Nehru Gandhi mafia clan made sure that he would not get any credit as he would then overshadow them.
Manmohan Singh was the "mind" while Narasimha Rao was the "will" behind the economic liberalization.
Let us hope Modi lives up to expectations and is gracious enough to give the Poor PVN for his contribution to the national economy
In the end he has to deliver for the people. How he does it matters not. What you could have given were other points like Modi's win was made to appear big but : - the 282 seats won by the BJP in the lower house was by only 31% of the total votes, being the lowest in the 62 year history of the house. - In the upper house the BJP holds 64 seats in a house of 240 ( Congress has 68 ) - Although it may mean nothing but not a single Muslim was elected on a BJP ticket.
My idea is to point out something said by Churchill in the Commons in 1931 : No government which is in a large minority in the country, even though it possesses a working majority in the House can have the necessary power to cope with real problems '
But India is not Britain and its 2014 and not 1931........and Churchill is not Modi.
Now in my view thats food for thought.
Quite confusing. While the relatively centralized functioning in Gujarat is well-known (and has delivered results), I am unclear on how Modi could have done anything different in his own Cabinet. Should he have given critical portfolios to MPs in whom he does not have confidence? Can we identify any glaring omission in the cabinet (highly competent but did not make the cut) that can clearly be laid at the doorstep of poor relationship with Modi? The idea of giving important positions to Ministers of State has two dimensions - one is indeed to maintain oversight from the PMO; the other is to blood relatively young talent and give them the opportunity to perform and be counted. I think we have become used to a PM who is little more than wallpaper - else we would not be seeing this much discomfort in now having someone who accepts accountability and appoints people he trusts to deliver results.
Guys, relax. I don't see anything critical in the above article. And it is actually interesting to know how Modi governed in Gujarat.
So Modi has a certain way of working wherein he keeps certain favorite (maybe high-impact) ministries to himself. For business & economy, his modus-operandi is clear in having 4 junior MoS who are his loyalists. Nothing wrong with any of this. Modi can have all the credit if he is also willing to shoulder the blame. In fact, it is a refreshing change compared to the way the country has been run for so long.
Compare this to Congress. A couple of days ago, news outlets reported that Modi had abolished Group of Ministers (GoM) and empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM). Any minister in UPA had to report to this super-body consisting of many ministers and take their approval before implementing anything related to his own portfolio! Apparently nothing would get done because the GoM and eGoM would discuss a matter ad-nauseum.
While Aakar has not mentioned it, another very interesting change that has occurred is the strengthening of the PMO which has now been turned also into a clearinghouse for inter-ministerial approval. That means the PMO and by extension the PM himself is going to ensure that any matter that spans more than one minister would be brought to its logical conclusion.
In all that Modi has done so far, one can see a certain iron will which I last saw happen during P. V. Narasimha Rao's government. However I was too young then to understand politics, so not sure how they compare.
Mr Patel i am happy that he will function like he did in Gujarat i do not give a dam about who gets which Ministry so long as India gets growth and our kids get jobs .
"He did this to ensure he could deliver growth and at this we must accept he was successful." -
So lately Anti modi too have started to accept that he delivered in Gujarat ( which they were reluctant to accept). Common men are not interested in which style his cabinet functions rather we are more interested in how quick he delivers the promises of economic development for all made during the poll campaign.
what is this doing on a pakistan newspaper??? and what am i doing here.....??
What is Aaker trying to say here? Modi was successful in delivering growth in Gujarat, and so he is following the same style in Delhi? So? He shouldn't? So Modi has a hands on management style. Is that bad? The State where he was elected him three times, and so his style produced results. If he does not, I assume the Indian public will throw him out. We did throw Zardari out. I really did not get what Aaker is trying to say.
Correction: Not that it matters, but Arun Jaitley is a Kashmiri, not a Punjabi. He did contest for his MP seat from Punjab.
Stellar analysis of Modi's operating procedures. Right hand man Shah will now be exonerated from the pending murder charges. Nothing to it,.. Modi Sarkar is in charge. Everything will be fine.