<div>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a quiet burial to his “minimum government, maximum governance” promise of May 2014. After Tuesday’s ministry revamp exercise, Modi has filled up almost all the 82 constitutionally permissible slots in the Union ministry. His ministry now has 78 members – it was 45 when his government was sworn in in May 2014. His predecessors – Manmohan Singh and A B Vajpayee – had run large ministries because of the political compulsions of running unwieldy coalitions. Modi does not have that compulsion as the BJP enjoys a simple majority in the Lok Sabha on its own. The swelling of the ministry has meant that there are now ministries with up to three ministers and not all of them will have enough work.<br /><br />It is fairly obvious that Modi is willing to have ministers without sufficient work in an effort to build a large social coalition to improve the BJP’s electoral cause in some important state assembly elections ahead, in particular in Uttar Pradesh and his home state of Gujarat. After the disastrous Bihar Assembly elections last year, the BJP will have to do well in UP to avoid a political decline which can be as sharp as the party’s rise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. And things are not very rosy in Gujarat as of now. Modi’s leadership can take a beating if his party fails to retain power in the Gujarat Assembly elections due by the end of next year. Modi has, therefore, chosen to give a lion’s share of the 19 new ministerial slots to these two states. In this exercise, he also gave additional representation to Dalits, tribals and other backward castes in a bid to improve his party’s standing among these sections.<br /><br />But beyond the political representation, the prime minister used the revamp to control the damage cabinet minister Smriti Irani has inflicted on his government and the party over the last two years by her imperious and controversial ways. If Modi has some added anxieties on the question of Dalit support to the ruling party, it was at least in part due to the perceived damage Smriti has caused in the way she ran the Human Resource Development ministry. In several universities, Dalit students have been up in arms against the Modi government due to Smriti-triggered controversies. Modi has relegated her to the far less visible ministry of textiles. He promoted Prakash Javadekar to cabinet rank and assigned him the HRD Ministry. While this may bring some relief to Modi, it is doubtful if Javadekar, who has not particularly excelled himself in the environment ministry, can undo the damage wrought by Smriti.</div>
<div>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a quiet burial to his “minimum government, maximum governance” promise of May 2014. After Tuesday’s ministry revamp exercise, Modi has filled up almost all the 82 constitutionally permissible slots in the Union ministry. His ministry now has 78 members – it was 45 when his government was sworn in in May 2014. His predecessors – Manmohan Singh and A B Vajpayee – had run large ministries because of the political compulsions of running unwieldy coalitions. Modi does not have that compulsion as the BJP enjoys a simple majority in the Lok Sabha on its own. The swelling of the ministry has meant that there are now ministries with up to three ministers and not all of them will have enough work.<br /><br />It is fairly obvious that Modi is willing to have ministers without sufficient work in an effort to build a large social coalition to improve the BJP’s electoral cause in some important state assembly elections ahead, in particular in Uttar Pradesh and his home state of Gujarat. After the disastrous Bihar Assembly elections last year, the BJP will have to do well in UP to avoid a political decline which can be as sharp as the party’s rise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. And things are not very rosy in Gujarat as of now. Modi’s leadership can take a beating if his party fails to retain power in the Gujarat Assembly elections due by the end of next year. Modi has, therefore, chosen to give a lion’s share of the 19 new ministerial slots to these two states. In this exercise, he also gave additional representation to Dalits, tribals and other backward castes in a bid to improve his party’s standing among these sections.<br /><br />But beyond the political representation, the prime minister used the revamp to control the damage cabinet minister Smriti Irani has inflicted on his government and the party over the last two years by her imperious and controversial ways. If Modi has some added anxieties on the question of Dalit support to the ruling party, it was at least in part due to the perceived damage Smriti has caused in the way she ran the Human Resource Development ministry. In several universities, Dalit students have been up in arms against the Modi government due to Smriti-triggered controversies. Modi has relegated her to the far less visible ministry of textiles. He promoted Prakash Javadekar to cabinet rank and assigned him the HRD Ministry. While this may bring some relief to Modi, it is doubtful if Javadekar, who has not particularly excelled himself in the environment ministry, can undo the damage wrought by Smriti.</div>
