Modi's Cabinet reshuffle a reset amid criticism over handling of virus

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's major reshuffling of his Cabinet is seen as a course correction amid criticism of the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a political reset ahead of crucial state elections.

Health minister Harsh Vardhan, who had prematurely declared the "endgame" of Covid-19 was in sight ahead of a devastating second wave in the country earlier this year, was the most high-profile exit.

Other major casualties included minister for electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was at the forefront of an ongoing row with social media giant Twitter over new IT rules, and minister for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, a senior spokesman for the ruling party.

They were among a dozen ministers who resigned on Wednesday as 36 new faces were inducted into the Cabinet, which expanded from 52 to 77 members.

Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, who took over as civil aviation minister, a post his late father held decades ago, was among the high-profile new entrants.

Mr Prasad's successor, Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw, yesterday told reporters that Twitter would have to abide by the new social media rules, indicating clearly that the government's position on the matter had not changed.

New health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya and his newly minted deputy, Dr Bharati Pawar, who is minister of state, have their work cut out for them in coordinating the vaccination drive to prevent a third wave of infections.

While the pace of the programme has picked up in recent weeks, only around 4.7 per cent of the population has been fully inoculated. Like many other countries, India has had to contend with vaccine shortages.

"Mr Modi has been on the back foot since April for the mishandling of the Covid-19 second wave, the vaccine policy, the loss of the (state election) in West Bengal, the economy and inflation," said columnist and political commentator Neerja Chowdhury.

"He has shifted gears halfway through his (second) term. He has brought in people he is more comfortable with - from technocrats to bureaucrats and educators. It's a new-look Cabinet. It is also a message to others to stay on their toes."

There is little doubt that the reshuffle was also fuelled by political considerations.

In India, such exercises take into account political representation for castes, regions and allies. Ruling parties use Cabinet berths to reach out to important political groups and allies.

The new health minister, for instance, belongs to the Patidars, an important community in Gujarat, Mr Modi's home state, which goes to the polls next year.

Some 15 ministers in the Cabinet now hail from Uttar Pradesh, where the Prime Minister's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fighting to retain power in crucial elections which are also due next year.

In a nod to the growing importance of women voters, seven female politicians, including Ms Anupriya Patel, who heads Apna Dal, a party based in Uttar Pradesh and an ally of the BJP, were brought in - taking their total number in government to 11.

Dr Sandeep Shastri, vice-chancellor of Jagran Lakecity University, said that Mr Modi had undertaken a very complex exercise and consolidated ministries for the smoother running of government.

Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, for instance, has been put in charge of both the education and skills development ministries, which were under different ministers previously.

"There is no one single factor behind the reshuffle. It is a move for political accommodation, social engineering and regional representation...Those who were non-performing and had no political mass base have been let go," he said. "It will definitely help deal with criticism but I'm not sure a rejig of portfolios alone will work. There needs to be something more substantive."

Ms Chowdhury said: "Everything hinges on how they will perform."

Looking ahead, the government will have to steer India out of the coronavirus pandemic and push economic growth along with employment rates.

"Brand Modi is being repackaged," said journalist and author Rasheed Kidwai.

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Key appointments in revamped Indian Cabinet

HEALTH MINISTER

Mr Mandaviya, 49, will have to quickly find his feet as India battles the pandemic and seeks to speed up its vaccination programme.

Mr Mandaviya was a junior minister in the Modi Cabinet and has made headlines for his environmentally conscious practice of riding a bicycle to Parliament.

Born into a middle-class farmer family in Gujarat, he represents the Patidar community, a politically important community in the state.

He was elected to the Upper House of Parliament in 2012 and re-elected in 2018.

Mr Mandaviya is a postgraduate political science student from Bhavnagar University. He was a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological backbone of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He entered politics through BJP's youth wing.

He holds the record for being the youngest member of the Legislative Assembly in Gujarat in 2002, according to his website.

A five-time MP, Mr Scindia, 50, is political royalty, belonging to the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, whose members have served on both sides of the political divide.

His father Madhavrao Scindia, who was killed in a plane crash, was also civil aviation minister and a prominent Congress leader. But his aunts, including former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh legislator Yashodhara Raje, are in the BJP.

Mr Scindia was a minister of state with an independent charge for power between 2012 and 2014 in the Congress government.

Once considered to be extremely close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Mr Scindia, who graduated from Harvard and holds an MBA from Stanford University, joined Congress in 2001 after his father's death.

But after becoming disenchanted with the party and last year, he cut his long-time links with Congress and joined BJP.

Mr Vaishnaw, 50, is seen as a surprise Cabinet appointment.

He is a former government officer in the Indian Administrative Service who went on to pursue a corporate and then business career, before landing in politics. He has been a BJP MP since 2019.

As a government official, he served in the Prime Minister's Office in the previous BJP government led by the late Atal Behari Vajpayee.

In 2004, after Mr Vajpayee lost the elections, Mr Vaishnaw worked as his private secretary till 2006, according to his website.

Mr Vaishnaw has a master of technology degree in industrial management from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He also holds a master of business administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He has worked as managing director of GE Transportation for South Asia, and as head of urban infrastructure strategy at Siemens.

Mr Chandrasekhar, 57, who has described himself as a technology entrepreneur, is a minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship as well as electronics and information technology

He is an MP for Karnataka state and is serving his third term in the Upper House of Parliament as a BJP MP. His first two terms were as an independent MP.

The son of an air force officer, he studied engineering at the Manipal Institute of Technology and earned his master's degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

He worked at Intel as a senior design engineer and CPU architect.

Mr Chandrasekhar founded BPL Mobile - India's first mobile network operator - in 1994, and is known to have interests in media, hospitality technology and entertainment sectors. In 2005, he founded Jupiter Capital, an investment and financial services firm.

Nirmala Ganapathy