PM Modi Expands Cabinet, Hate Speech MP Makes the Grade

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally expanded his Council of Ministers to 66 ministers, just seven ministers short of the Manmohan Singh led government. It was not a dramatic event in itself, except for the overt fissures between the BJP and the Shiv Sena that led to the latter moving its official nominee out of the oath taking ceremony at virtually the last minute.

Relations between the two old allies dipped for the worst during the campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, followed by some overtures and making up after the polls. Talks had the BJP agreeing to include the Shiv Sena in the Union Cabinet, and all was well, except for the fact that Uddhav Thackeray’s official nominee Anil Y Desai was accorded minister of state rank as against PM Modi’s personal preference for Sena leader Suresh Prabhu who was given cabinet rank.

Thackeray ordered Desai to return to Mumbai when he got whiff of the placement with Prabhu apparently taking his own decisions. Rumours that the Minister who has been fairly close t

o PM Modi will join the BJP whirled around the grapevine even as Prabhu took the oath, without so much as batting an eyelid at the fresh Sena versus BJP wars set to break out in Mumbai all over again.

Despite some reports no one was axed with Mukhtar Naqvi coming in as minister of state. Other hopefuls like senior journalists MJ Akbar and Arun Shourie remained out in the cold, the first remaining in position to defend all actions of the BJP as its spokesperson and the second unable to win the confidence of the PM to make the grade as a Minister.

Bihar that will going to the polls next year has, as expected, got three more representatives in the Council of Ministers with Rajiv Pratap Rudy finally being brought in as a Union Minister along with Ram Kripal Yadav and Giriraj Singh.

Giriraj Singh hit the headlines this July when he said that his house had been burgled of Rs 50,000. The burglar was caught and Rs 1.14 crores recovered from him, that Singh insisted was not his. He has also been booked for hate speech while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections where he insisted that those who did not support Narendra Modi for Prime Minister should “go to Pakistan.” He followed these remarks with, "Pakistan is the hurdle in Narendra Modi's path of becoming PM, and there are some people in India who are pro-Modi. Some are pro-terrorism and their political Mecca-Madina is Pakistan. These people should be in Pakistan, not India.”

More recently he again stated, “"Isn't it true that all people caught in terrorist activities belong to one community? I am not trying to blame any one particular community. Why are all so-called secular parties silent on this?" PM Modi had warned at the time of “irresponsible statements” without naming Singh who has now found a place in the Cabinet.

BJP veteran and organisation man, the hitherto low-profile JP Nadda, makes his debut as minister, straight with a Cabinet rank. Nadda was in the running for BJP president, being supported by the RSS. However, Amit Shah made it to the post instead at PM Modi’s insistence at the time.

Relations with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra however, have taken a decisive turn for the worse with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis having his task cut out for him. The Shiv Sena has emerged as the second largest party in the state adding to its tally and vote percentage despite losing the first party ground to the BJP. It has considerable influence in the state, and particularly in Mumbai. It will be difficult for CM Fadnavis to run the state smoothly without the Sena’s cooperation, and it now remains to be seen how the perceived “insult” by denying the official nominee a place in the Cabinet is papered over by the BJP. Significantly, the RSS has little influence on the Sena that runs independent of Nagpur.

This seems to be the last major reshuffle for a while with the political parties now preparing for the Parliament session later this month. The Cabinet has a clear Modi stamp with the list of new inclusions fairly predictable.