Prime Minister Modi, known for his ability of bowling
political bouncers yet again stumped the Indian media with the elevation of
Minister of State, Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman. While the media channels
initially vied for the top honors for getting right the names of the new
additions to the cabinet, they were gob smacked by allotment of portfolios. The
Modi-Shah, duo continuing the spree of surprising the media and public with groundbreaking
decisions, announced the elevation of Ms. Sitharaman by making her full-time
Minister for Defence. Defence for long was considered a male bastion. With this
new elevation, Sitharaman has become the first woman defence minister of
independent India after Indira Gandhi, who held this ministry as an additional
charge from Dec 1st to 21st 1975 and again January 14th
1980 to January 15th 1982.
Talks about the cabinet reshuffle, 18 months away from
general elections 2019, began to gain more dust with resignation of ministers
like Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Balyan, Bhandaru Dattatreya, Mahendra Nath
Pandey, Uma Bharati, Kalraj Mishra, Faggan Singh Kaluste. Spate of resignations
has raised curious speculations. Political observers opined that poorly
performing ministers were asked to step down to make way for allies especially
JD (U) in the cabinet. But the list of
inductees into the cabinet has startled the media and political parties. None
of the allies were accommodated. On the other hand, former bureaucrats and
young leaders found a place in cabinet. Sending out a stern message that
efficiency and performance will be rewarded, NDA government battling the
criticisms of failing to deliver on Skills, employment and revving up tourism
potential have roped in technocrats to rebuild a new team of proactive leaders.
Besides, Modi rewarded dedicated and committed leaders. With BJP commanding absolute majority instead
of succumbing to appeasement of allies, took the liberty of placing the
candidates of its choice. While critics attributed marginalization of allies to
BJP’s arrogance, undeterred Modi with an eye on upcoming state assembly and
general elections went ahead with cabinet rejig. This political overhauling, in
fact, is a subtle message to leaders that “performance” and “probity” alone
stands rewarded.
Of all the decisions and the political messaging, elevation
of Nirmala Sitharaman as the defence minister is intensely discussed. The
phenomenal rise of a person from small town to becoming head of the third
largest military defence force of the World with 1.4 million personnel has now become
case of curious study. Sitharaman, who was an independent MoS for commerce is
now promoted to Cabinet rank. She is now part of the powerful five-member
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and will be seated in the South Block. She
will now become member of the most powerful sisterhood of 16 female defence
ministers. Currently, two nuclear armed countries- India and Italy are headed
by women defence ministers. This new elevation aside symbolizing women’s
empowerment will continue to inspire millions of aspiring young women in India
to break the glass ceilings and reach to the stars. Till now, Indian politics
were dominated by dynasts, families with high connections, power brokers,
sycophants and was largely bereft of people from humble origins at the highest
positions. Political ascendancy of individuals hailing from ordinary working
class besides, changing perceptions of youth towards politics will power their
aspirations. For long, libtards and western-educated intellectuals tersely
ridiculed BJP for being regressive. But, most unflatteringly, it was BJP,
breaking the norms, of assigning women and child development portfolio to women,
assigned key ministries like Foreign Affairs, Textiles, Information and
Broadcasting, Food Processing, Ganga rejuvenation and now the much acclaimed
defence ministry to women. Now six key ministries are held by women in current
cabinet.
The political trajectory of Sitharaman has been slow and
steady. Rising from the position of a surprise inductee into the NDA cabinet in
2014, she earned the new promotion for being a non-nonsense leader and by
earning accolades for her tough negotiating skills with EU and Australia for
trade agreements with regards to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP) and at WTO. As minister of commerce and industry, she monitored Prime
Minister’s pet initiatives, Make in India, Start Up India, Digital India, Stand
Up India. More recently, amid Doklam
standoff, Sitharaman sent an unequivocal message to China to bring about
semblance in trade imbalances. Aside, the symbolism of women commanding the
battle-hardened generals, Sitharaman’s elevation will be politically rewarding.
Born in Tamilnadu, married to an Andhraite, living in Telangana and
representing Karnataka, her rise will be propitiously viewed by South Indians. Rising
to an eclectic position by the weight of credentials in absence of political
Godfather in a country beleaguered by dynasticism is truly iconoclastic. Though
people might be predisposed to draw parallels with Indira Gandhi, elevation of
Sitharaman is truly unique.
With India, increasingly at odds with China and Pakistan,
temerity and audacity of defence would be put to testing times. Hence,
Sitharaman should brace for toughest challenges to make India war ready for a
two and a half war front. While the path is not clearly laid out, with great
power comes great responsibility and the minister should be make every effort
to have a way with military officers, defence scientists, bureaucrats and
oversee functioning on the DRDO labs, ordnance factories and ship yards. Strategic
experts, questioned the intent of government in turning the office of high
authority into a “place-for-on-job training” for inducting an inexperienced
person. Critics ridiculed that Sitharaman’s promotion can hardly be
acknowledged as Woman’s empowerment as it fails to have direct impact on Indian
woman’s life. But unarguably, her political mettle and marvelous journey can
continue to motivate youngsters to aspire high.
Yet again, Indian journalists are befuddled by Modi’s master
stroke with their speculations of portfolio allocation off the mark.
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