The great Modi reshuffle: tiresome punditry

BY VICKY LEEK| IN Opinion | 13/07/2016

Wah, Punditry!
Vicky Leek

My late husband, as befitted a bureaucrat, used to say that journalists think they are the cat’s whiskers while the rest of the world thinks of them as ignoramuses. The latest example that he may have been right came when Narendra Modi reshuffled his Council of ministers earlier this month -- and not Cabinet as everyone called it which, as it turned out, was not shuffled at all!   Undeterred by ignorance, fuelled by speculation and puffed up with punditry, they held forth. 

The commentary or analysis or opinion of the Great Unlearned fell into three categories: one lot thought it was all political, UP elections and all that, you know, caste etc; the other lot thought it was all about efficiency, deliver or perish, Swachch Bharat, electricity and roads and so on. A small minority thought it was all rubbish, of no consequence, just Modi and Amit Shah flexing their muscles because they have them.

The speculation about a reshuffle had begun long ago, actually. It always does when journalists have nothing to write about. So way back in January one Mohan Guruswamy, who I am told is a well known columnist, even advised Modi on who all he should drop: Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman, for being next to useless.

In the event, Narendra-bhai ignored Mohan-bhai. All three stayed quite put.

After the expansion -- and some tiny changes in portfolios -- another pundit wrote that Modi had not done what he should have done, namely, focus on performance. “Modi has chosen not to do what any sensible politician would have done in the face of reality. This is the single biggest take-away from his cabinet reshuffle.”

In short, Modi was a dumbo who had let an opportunity pass.

Exactly the opposite view was expressed by our Pundit for All Seasons whose sophisticated style I love. “It is entirely proper that cabinet appointments be political; cabinets should be back-door entries for technocrats in rare circumstances.”  

He continued in full approval of the BJP: “The BJP projects the sense of a party and government closely coordinated. In fact, the party president is not just an organisation man but stamping his influence on government in a very visible way. Whatever one may think of this, the deep coordination helps the BJP be a more organised political force.”

So Modi and Shah are not so dumb after all. I was so very relieved. Imagine having political duffers like those two in the Congress. They have made Raj Babbar in charge of UP! Heeheehee.

Just when I thought I had seen it all, yet another interpretation by yet another expert popped up on the screen: forget politics, he said, the reshuffle was all about performance.

“Many in the ministerial league were not performing well, some because they were in the wrong Ministries, others because they weren’t up to the task, and still nothing was being done about it. Corruption was down, but efficiency was not quite up. Did Modi and Shah realise this? Now we know that they did.”

This, of course, was in direct opposition to what the first pundit had said: “There will be widespread disappointment at the prime minister’s failure to drop major laggards and non-performers – the council of ministers is full of them.”

As they say in the Punjab, hai mein kee karaan, my head is eating circles only.

Spinning along

As you can imagine by this time all this punditry was getting very tiresome. So I turned to the spin doctors. They are everywhere but the ones I detest most are the reporters and their papers that act as extensions of AIR, DD, and that strange thing called the ministry of information and broadcasting. “Sir, please let me blow your trumpet.” 

The spin was all the same, namely, politics? Modiji and Amit Shahji? Cheecheechee! Listen, these two saints don’t care about politics at all. Only performance matters to them. India uber alles.

One paper, devoutly devoted to Modi, wrote that there were some evaluation criteria for the changes. It reminded me of all that HR stuff my daughter goes on about.

“...the evaluation criteria included, apart from performance metrics, reach-out efforts, temperament, treatment of staff and colleagues, public image, integrity, alignment with government vision and coordination with states.”

Another friendly paper wrote that “Modi has essentially sent out a stern message about the kind of ministers he is looking for inside the cabinet. It is also an exercise in damage control, of trying to do away with the notion of the government being anti-Dalit, anti-talent while accepting the reality that a chunk of voters who propelled Modi to the hot seat have "moved away" from it in the last two years. All in all, an astute move by the master tactician, ably guided and supported by the party, led by Amit Shah.”

Jai Jagadish Hare!

Remembering Smriti

The pattern being clear by now, I thought I would see what everyone was making of the two surprises, the transfer of Jayant Sinha and Smriti Irani. Most people seemed to think that Sinha Jr had paid the price for his father’s lack of restraint. The senior Sinha has, as they say ‘been unsparing in his criticism of Modi’.

But you know what, dears? I don’t think Modi is that crude. He is a subtle man and doesn’t believe that a father’s sins should be visited on his children. I think he just wanted to make the finance ministry appear more farmer-friendly. Jayant, the poor boy, is an investment banker after all, of no use to farmers, no?

As for Ms Irani, hmm... well... let me see, I must clear my aging throat. Did she get her comeuppance as so many pundits and reporters -- relying on “sources in the know in the BJP” -- wrote? Did Narendra and Amit really push her over the side? Or has she been given a chance to do some good in a ministry that can help revive India’s economic fortunes and create a vast amount of jobs?

While there were many takers for the shunted out of HRD theory, my doubts were laid to rest after I read a column by an expert on textiles, especially handlooms. This is what she wrote: “UP, where the forthcoming political bhumi lies ahead for Irani, is home to thousands of weavers and artisans who need attention and uplift, not based on subsidies, but based on improved capacity building. There is huge potential for creating sustainable employment in this sector and it will surely benefit from the new minister’s affinity for action, that is, if others do not try to constantly trip her up.”  

You know what, dears? I think I agree. In fact, it is entirely possible that even little Jayant has been sent to make a go of the new aviation policy.

Imagine how popular the BJP will be if it gets flights going between Jhumri Talaiayya and Mancharyal or Bijwasan and Bijnore.

All for Rs 2,500.