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12 ministers dropped in Cabinet rejig
Exits of health and science minister Harsh Vardhan, law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and I&B and environment minister Prakash Javadekar came as a surprise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday dropped 12 ministers from his council, including six senior Cabinet ministers (the last time as many Cabinet ministers were dropped was in 1963 during the so-called Kamraj plan), effecting a significant makeover of his team based on performance; and addressing the need to accommodate allies, political imperatives, and requirements, of the next few years.
One of the ministers, Thawarchand Gehlot resigned after being named governor on Tuesday; another, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has been unwell for some time; and chemicals and fertilizers minister DV Sadananda Gowda may be needed in Bengaluru to manage the fluid political situation in the state (although there may have been other reasons for his exit as well). But the exits of health and science minister Harsh Vardhan, law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and I&B and environment minister Prakash Javadekar came as a surprise.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Vardhan, Prasad, and Javadekar would be accommodated in the party organisation. The health minister’s exit is widely seen as a consequence of the patchy way in which India managed Covid-19. The Centre has put up a brave front in the face of criticism, and maintained that its response was adequate, but Vardhan’s exit may well be an acknowledgement that things could have been handled better.
Also dropped were Santosh Kumar Gangwar (independent charge of labour), and ministers of state Babul Supriyo, Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Rattan Lal Kataria, Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Debasree Chaudhuri.
President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted all the resignations.
Prasad, the law and IT minister, has been removed at a time when India’s first data privacy bill is awaiting parliamentary approval, but people familiar with the matter said that his tussle with social media giants, especially Twitter, created unnecessary controversies for the government.
Javadekar’s stint in the environment ministry was also marred by controversies especially when the draft environment impact assessment policy led to a fierce public storm. As Javadekar started getting hundreds and thousands of mails and protest letters, he sought to file a case under the stringent UAPA laws against young climate activists. The Opposition had also charged him for diluting major environmental laws to placate industries.
Gowda started his innings in the first Modi government as the minister for law but was soon shifted to ministry of programme implementation and statistics. His regime at the chemical and fertilizers ministry may have been cut short after India reeled under shortage of crucial medicines and drugs during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to directly supervise availability of medicines and his office regularly called the chemical and fertilizers secretary for Covid review meetings,” said a senior official.
Pokhriyal tested positive for Covid in April, seemingly recovered, but was last month hospitalised following complications.
Gangwar, the people familiar with the matter said, may have paid the price for his ministry’s handling of the migrant crisis during the first wave of Covid-19. His ministry came under severe criticism as hapless migrant workers scrambled to return home last year during the lockdown. The labour ministry even failed to provide a realistic estimate of the returnees. Besides, all four labour codes — on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational health and safety — have been approved in Parliament, but none have been implemented.
The recent assembly election in West Bengal has also cast a shadow on the reshuffle. The BJP expected to win the state, but the TMC won by a landslide. Two ministers of state, Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri, were dropped. However, four new ministers from Bengal were inducted on Wednesday.
Dhotre and Kataria have been dropped to accommodate fresh faces, the people familiar with the matter said.
