Changing Track
- Concentration of portfolios in the hands of PM Modi, a few others has led to speculation of a ‘hidden agenda’
- Govt inflexibility on LoP, speaker issue opens charges that it’s looking to steamroll through appointments
- An independent CBI looks a pipe dream again as NDA nixes postings
- A-G appointment, SC judges posting dispute points to more of the same
- Pushing Hindi on govt depts raises hackles of the south states
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Making an assessment of a government that is just about completing its first month in office is certainly bad form, and possibly unfair. But as an intrepid Delhi-watcher quipped this week, when a “marathon runner chooses to do a 100 metres sprint” without warming up, questions are bound to crop up. While everyone applauded the decision to invite SAARC leaders to the swearing-in (incidentally, our most expensive one till date) and the prime minister’s first foreign visit to Bhutan, questions are also being raised as to why the trip was so urgent when the government was barely a fortnight old and is yet to start functioning fully. Didn’t the two leaders just meet in New Delhi last month?
The people are of course delighted at the artfully placed puff pieces that ministers have been reined in and are being forced to work, that government offices in New Delhi are cleaning up their cupboards and toilets, that the media is being put in its place, that IAS officers are reporting for work earlier than they did and so on. But there is also perceptible unease in the corridors of power, despite commentators by and large being overwhelmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “masterstrokes”. Even some of his admirers are beginning to wonder if he is his own boss or whether he’s already been “entrapped” by the ‘Delhi Durbar’—the usual circle of lobbyists, lawyers, businessmen and bureaucrats.
Centralisation of authority in the PMO, with ministers made to secure its approval first before appointing secretaries, osds and even personal staff, has led to both confusion and consternation. The unconfirmed buzz is that the PMO has circulated a list of IAS officers and even secretarial staff to the ministers. Here are some of the other issues which have triggered concerns.
Chug Chug The rail fare hike was partially rolled back after protests
‘Underwhelming’ ministry: While the prime minister had promised “unprecedented changes” while forming his ministry—downsizing the top layers and converging clusters—several observers, including his biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, found the ministry itself “underwhelming”. While several ministers were given dual charge and several ministries clubbed together (like overseas affairs with external affairs), neither convergence nor administrative exigencies could explain heavyweight BJP leader Arun Jaitley being given finance, corporate affairs as well as defence. It was thought to be a temporary, short-term arrangement. A month later, it appears he will hold charge of both ministries for some more time. The inability of the PM to appoint a full-time defence minister has led to unnecessary speculation on some “hidden agenda”.
Mixed signals on LoP: While the PM himself has been signaling his resolve to carry the Opposition with him, the government has been sending out mixed signals on the issue of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. While the decision is to be taken by the Speaker, BJP leaders queered the pitch by saying the party is disinclined to grant the status to the Congress. The position assumes importance because the PM, Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha together decide on the appointment of the CVC, Lok Pal, CBI director etc. By dragging its feet, the ruling party has opened itself to the charge that it is angling for a free hand in making appointments and stifling dissent.
Signal to the CBI director: By denying an extension to Javeed Ahmed, Joint Director (P), ostensibly because his cousin Aftab Alam is a retired Supreme Court judge who had heard cases against Amit Shah, the government has given out a wrong signal. The MHA withdrew the cadre clearance after having issued it. Ahmed was hand-picked by present director Ranjit Sinha and the decision is a clear rebuff to him. Sinha has been complaining that he has no say in the appointment of senior officers and repatriating Ahmed to UP is another instance of the government depriving the director of the freedom to build his own team. Ahmed was also denied posting in any other organisation in Delhi. The Supreme Court is likely to hear in mid-July the CBI’s prayer for more say in filling up senior positions and CBI watchers are awaiting to see the government’s stand.
Ordinance puts the clock back: Within two days of assuming office, an ordinance was promulgated to amend the TRAI Act which debarred the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman from accepting any government assignment after his tenure. The ordinance issued in extraordinary haste enabled former TRAI chairman Nripendra Mishra to be appointed principal secretary to the prime minister. That the PM could not find a suitable officer still in service, not even from his home state of Gujarat, tells its own story. But the additional fact that Mishra had never worked closely with the PM before has fuelled speculation that a major telecom company was interested in placing him in that vantage position.
Gopal Subramaniam’s elevation blocked: The government sent back the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation for elevating eminent lawyer Gopal Subramaniam as a Supreme Court judge. His name and that of three others were announced by the Chief Justice of India and a confirmation by the government was deemed to be routine. (Subramaniam, incidentally, as S-G had been highly disparaging of the Gujarat government and then state home minister Amit Shah’s role in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.) The Modi government’s objections centred around ‘negative references’ by the CBI about his role in the 2G scam probe and a dubious IB report citing his “personal oddities”. Selective leaks to the media further sullied the whole matter. With the judiciary and government on a collision course, Subramaniam did the decent thing: he wrote to the SC that his candidature be withdrawn.
Attorney-General’s conflict of interest: Mukul Rohatgi, the newly appointed attorney-general, has represented some of the corporates accused in the 2G case, the Italian Embassy in the case of the marines arrested and held by India for killing Indian fishermen and Anil Ambani in the gas price dispute. He was also the lawyer engaged by the Gujarat government in the fake encounter cases. Even senior lawyer and staunch Modi supporter Ram Jethmalani had publicly opposed Rohatgi’s appointment which, he said, would send a wrong signal because the man had opposed “the move to bring back black money”. Rohatgi and all other law officers appointed by the new government are, significantly, deemed to be close to Arun Jaitley and have been practicing in the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court.
Protests demanding resignation of gangrape accused MoS Nihalchand Meghwal
British anthropologist deported: The deportation of British anthropologist, Dr Penny Vera-Sanso, from Birkbeck, London University, has caused ripples in academic circles. Dr Vera-Sanso has been visiting India since 1990 and her work is on “ageing and poverty”. But when she arrived at Hyderabad on June 8 to attend an international seminar, immigration officials deported her on instructions from New Delhi. Academics in touch with the scholar claimed she was pointedly asked whether she had visited Ahmedabad in March this year and whether she had put up a photo exhibition on the aged there.
What’s sauce for the goose and the guv: The new government appears to be following the UPA in seeking the resignation of governors, unmindful of an SC stricture in 2010. The new government had the opportunity to clean up the system by laying down norms and eligibility criteria for occupants of the Raj Bhavans, but like earlier regimes, seems intent on a purge. Out of the 29 governors in mid-June, as many as 17 were politicians, seven retired ips officers, four retired IAS officers and a solitary retired general from the Army. A few have already put in their papers.
The ‘national’ Hindi language: The Centre’s directive to the ministries and departments that they must “use Hindi” as the official language of communication on social media has again raised fears of language chauvinism. DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, a veteran of the 1960s language wars, was among those who immediately derided the moveHardly a conciliatory gesture from a PM, who’s been harping away at taking all of India along in his drive to progress.
Already the list of the NDA’s missteps reads like a cautionary tale. Then there’s Modi’s studied silence on the inclusion of Muzaffarnagar riots accused Sanjeev Baliyan in the ministry and the issue of the killing of a random Muslim techie in Pune by a mob angered by some Facebook posts lampooning some Hindutva icons. The BJP is also finding it difficult to defend the government’s indifference to the mounting criticism for continuing with a gangrape accused, Nihalchand Meghwal, as MoS for chemicals and fertilisers. The rail fare hike too won’t be something the common man will find easy to swallow. Irate protests from its ally Shiv Sena this week led to a partial roll-back for suburban, short distance, second class and unreserved categories. A decisive regime too needs to be practical, then. Is this government, then, really one with a difference?
