Tame reshuffle

In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland , when Alice gets lost, she asks a cat: “Which way should I go from here?” The cat replies “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” Tired, dispirited and indifferent, Alice replies, “I don't much care where, so long as I get somewhere.” In that case, says the cat, “it doesn't matter which way you go, as you'll surely get somewhere.” Whether the Prime Minister and the Congress President took a cue from Alice and the cat while shuffling ministerial portfolios on Tuesday is not yet known, but citizens who are familiar with the story can be forgiven for thinking so.

The shuffling had been on the anvil for over a year. The Prime Minister had been repeatedly asked about it. Each time, he had answered that he would not discuss the composition of ‘his' Council of Ministers with the media. He had said this with such gravity that everyone had been led to believe that a major reshuffle was on the cards. In the end, it was a tame affair, so tame indeed that it has strengthened the impression that the Dr Manmohan Singh has very little room for manoeuvre. He may have liked to have removed deadwood and bring in some young sparks to give his Government some pep and fizz. But, clearly, the charm of minimalism has prevailed. The Government of India is no worse, for sure, than it was before the changes; but sadly it is not better off either. There lies the tragedy: the shuffle is a non-event.

The same cannot be said for the individual ministers, however. The shifting of Mr Jairam Ramesh, for one, sends a wrong signal, especially at a time when sustainable growth and environmental concerns are twin focus areas for the Twelfth Plan. Of course, the corporates will be a happy lot as Mr Ramesh's ‘no-go' stance had been giving some of them sleepless nights. However, on the environment, Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, who replaced Mr Ramesh, is no pushover and can be expected to do the needful for party, Government and country. Bringing in Mr Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress as Cabinet Minister in the Railways is another change that raises little hope. His leader, Mamata Banerjee, had been running the Ministry virtually in absentia since she took charge in 2009. He has his task cut out because her style of functioning has left the Railways in disarray. The absence of DMK ministers in the reshuffle action will lead to some raised eyebrows. After all, the party has 19 MPs, even if there is a cloud over two of its erstwhile Ministers. This does not portend well for their alliance. Mr Salman Khurshid in Law can be expected to bring some energy to that Ministry and the political skills of Mr Rajiv Shukla in Parliamentary Affairs will be useful in negotiating issues in Parliament.

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