Briefly analyzes some critical takeaways from the expansion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expansion of his Cabinet on Jul 6, 2016.

1. Some Key Takeaways from PM Modi’s Cabinet Expansion on Jul 6, 2016
Shantanu Basu
Too much is being made of Smriti Irani’s ‘demotion’ to the Textile Ministry’s Minister
yesterday. Overall, the impression I gathered from the ‘huge’ Cabinet ‘expansion’ was that there
are many more key takeaways and messages of disquiet, some of which, to my mind, follow:
1. Javadekar and Gadkari are critical pillars of both the RSS and BJP and both are great
milkmen and mops, hence ever eligible for promotions and critical berths. They are
definitely indispensable.
2. It is not as if Smriti Irani did nothing in HRD. Let us be fair for her limited achievements.
Yet she represented the most aggressive face of the BJP, the epitome of adversarial
politics, often degenerating into most plebian name calling. The fact of SS Ahluwalia
being drafted is proof of PM Modi’s belated realization that his gladiatorial tactics are not
yielding any result, particularly on the legislative front. Hence the balance, although it
may already be too late.
3. If Smriti Irani is to be the BJP’s CM face in UP in 2017, she will only cause
fragmentation of fast-vanishing Congress votes if Priyanka spearheads the Congress side.
Both these have no administrative experience in running India’s large state and managing
the incredibly dynamic and opportunistic caste and religious fault lines. Smriti is also a
rank outsider. MSY and his cousins have stymied Akhilesh’s govt. and are bound to
suffer anti-incumbency apart from a Yadav-based administration. On the other hand,
large chunks of traditional vote banks of the Congress and BJP have apparently switched
to the BSP. This is in addition to BSP’s core SC constituency. BSP is also steadily
poaching on the SP’s constituency. Realizing Behnji’s upper hand, Rajnath Singh has
preferred the safety of his present berth. In any case, corruption pervades all political
parties. Thus Ms. Irani’s chances, for now, appear to be closest to nil of capturing UP for
her party. Thus my point in (2) above holds true.
4. The unidimensional devotion of the Modi-Shah combine to resort to caste as its USP in
UP, creates an impression that the BJP is running scared for their fast-diminishing
political appeal. Hence the dump for their development clarion call of 2014. Winning
elections than delivering good governance has become the BJP’s national obsession,
signs of evident nervousness at the highest levels.
5. Not a single Minister sworn in yesterday has been heard of on the national plane to date.
They serve the BJP’s single obsession of pandering to caste for electoral gain without any
chance of dissent within govt. or party. One minister had to be reminded to mention his
name during the oath taking ceremony by Pranab Babu!
6. Venkaiah Naidu in MUD has not exactly covered himself in glory, aside from willy-nilly
carrying his master’s slippers. Maybe that is why he now has a bump-up with the add-on

2. bonus of I & B to become the official herald of his Master. Look forward to cow-milkign
ads on Poordarshan. Likewise, cabinet ministers like Najma Heptullah, Kalraj Mishra,
Ramvilas Paswan, JP Nadda, Jual Oram, Harsh Vardhan that are unable to inform
citizens what they have done to earn their fat salaries and perks remain smugly ensconced
in their respective charges. Evidently, Firstpost’s hilarious conclusion that the expansion
spoke of a ‘presidential form of govt.’ rings true for jobs are dispensed as ‘prasadam’
alone.
7. Divesting Arun Jaitley of I & B does not address the clear conflict of interest between his
roles as the nation’s chief financial policy planner as FM and as enforcer and regulator in
Corporate Affairs, e.g. all NPA defaulters are registered companies over which MoCA
exercises superintendence. Likewise, why were the Depts. of Divestment and Financial
Services not merged with MoCA?
8. Piyush Goyal deserved better. He would have made a far superior FM with his
professional credentials and achievements. Maybe his achievements would have been
much greater had manufacturing high-tension consumers raised their demand for power.
He has brought MoP to a decent working level. Why could he not have been given charge
of MoCA with Depts. of Divestment and Financial Services?
9. Jayant Sinha could have assisted Goyal, never mind wisecracks about his former
employer, Omidiyar Foundation, and their investments in several companies in India and
premature doubts about his integrity (obviously fed to the media tonight by the AJ camp).
Between these two, huge financial resources could have been raised and bad loans
recovered to some extent.
10. The distinction between party and govt. has all but vanished, even with BJP’s one-man-
one-post rule. Merit is unknown and unwanted while the twin criteria for
selection/upping are minister’s castes and their insignificant potential to cause any threat
to the core. Similarly, the distinction between government and governance has finally
been officially buried.
The author is a senior public policy analyst and commentator