Don't mess with govt image: Modi's message to Smriti Irani

July 6, 2016

New Delhi, Jul 6: In the high decibel din of the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle of portfolios in the Narendra Modi government, the media seems to have forgotten about a certain BJP maverick MP – Subramanian Swamy – who until recently was its obsession. Where is he now in this celebration?

modisairathSwamy neither figures in the list of new inductees, nor does he seem to be throwing tantrums over his exclusion. Evidently, Swamy's antics of attacking the likes of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, economic advisor Arvind Subramanian and other officials of the Finance Ministry turned out to be a misadventure. His snide remarks against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the final nail in the coffin of his aspirations to be a Union minister.

In his attempt to rejig the Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown a distinct distaste for those with a penchant for courting controversy. Swamy's exclusion and Smriti Irani's removal from the human resource development (HRD) Ministry are indicative of a pattern.

Though unlike Swamy, Irani never crossed the Rubicon line of party discipline. Yet she found herself in the midst of many controversies related to her haughtiness with bureaucrats and academics – with Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide in Hyderabad and the JNU row marking crucial blows in her two-year tenure as HRD minister.

Though senior BJP leaders, including Modi, are quite impressed by Irani's political pugnacity, she seems to have lost out on moderation. In a recent conference of vice-chancellors of central universities, she ticked off seasoned academics in a very unpleasant manner.

Apparently the minister's conduct could not endear her to the bureaucracy and academics. On some occasions, she was seen courting controversies that may suit the image of a street-fighter, but not of a Union minister.

Contrast this with Prakash Javadekar, an unassuming leader from Maharashtra, who is the only one elevated in this Cabinet expansion – he is now the HRD minister, after relieving his post as the Environment Minister. All this, with Javadekar maintaining a low-profile while facilitating the industry to negotiate with environmental concerns.

Insiders say that Javadekar very deftly handled his assignment of aligning the regulatory regime of the environment Ministry with developmental concerns. He was rewarded with the HRD portfolio for efficiently implementing the government's agenda and for his pro-active role in the climate change talks in Paris. Given Javadekar's own training as Swayamsevak, his new assignment would only get wide approval within the Sangh Parivar.

If the reshuffle is any indication, then it is clear that the prime minister did not hesitate to clip the wings of those found falling short of his expectations. For instance, the communication portfolio was taken away from a voluble Ravi Shankar Prasad and given to Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha, as additional responsibility.

Sinha, an engineering graduate from Banaras Hindu University, won unqualified admiration for his efficiency, while maintaining a low-profile. Prasad was, however, given back the charge of the Law Ministry in view of his background as a lawyer – he replaced DV Sadananda Gowda, who had taken over the law ministry from Prasad back in 2014.

Modi has also plugged gaps in certain portfolios by appointing MJ Akbar in the Foreign Ministry and by deploying Ananth Kumar as Parliamentary Affairs Minister, along with SS Ahluwalia, to mobilise support from non-congress parties for the smooth conduct of Parliament.

The underlying theme of the Cabinet reshuffle is quite Biblical – 'meek shall inherit the earth'. This is the precise reason why Swami is left sulking. Similarly, a powerful leader like Yogi Adityanath in eastern UP was ignored, though the Cabinet expansion saw the accommodation of several leaders with influence at the local level. Modi also did not hesitate to axe Ram Shankar Katheria – as the junior HRD minister – as his controversial utterances had caused much consternation.

Taken together, the whole exercise conveyed that those inducted within the government would not be allowed to mess around with its image, either by their conduct or by their utterances.

The implied message was clear – that those having self-inflated notions about themselves can enjoy all the freedom of speech and expression, but while sitting outside the government.

Comments

Satyameva jayate
 - 
Thursday, 7 Jul 2016

This shows how modijis govt failed for the last two years with useless ministers.........they gave positions to the modijis schela' s and now suffering......let's see after two years what will be the change....may be this party will change the PM candidate itself......

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: While the humans are on lockdown and spending time with their families, animals are free and without any fear roaming around on the otherwise busy roads. From Malabar civets to large Indian bisons, animals are enjoying this time.

Indian Forest Officer Susanta Nanda recently shared a video with the caption, "Indian bison( the gaur) goes for a street walk. The largest extant Bovine, is native to South and Southeast Asia. It can be very aggressive. Rare to see in markets."

The 8-second video shows the large animal freely walking in the market area of Chikmagalur district, Karnataka, while the few onlookers on the road get aside and watch the Bison with utmost amazement.

The videos of animals having a gala time on the roads have become common. After the video was posted online, it became a hit. The clip garnered over 3.1k views and over 100 retweets.

Twitter is amazed at the video. Have a look at the comments.

One user wrote, "Oh! We should vacate this place for them. Guess humans have stayed for too long."

Another Twitter user wrote, "That’s one thing people would follow social distancing with!"

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News Network
July 25,2020

Chennai, Jul 25: Two weeks after a 62-year-old widow accused him of harassment, including urinating outside her house, the Chennai Police on Saturday registered an FIR against ABVP national president Dr Subbiah Shanmugam.

Dr Shanmugam, Professor and HOD, Department of Surgical Oncology, Kilpauk Medical College and Government Royapettah Hospital, has been booked under sections 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 427 (mischief causing damage) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Prevention Act.

The FIR was lodged exactly two weeks after the woman’s relative Balaji Vijayaraghavan filed a complaint with the Adambakkam police accusing Dr Shanmugam of harassing his aunt, who is living alone in her apartment following her husband’s death last year, following an argument over a parking slot. 

The action came after Vijayaraghavan alleged that the police were not filing an FIR due to the ABVP functionary’s “political connections.”

Dr Shanmugam and the woman were living in the same apartment complex in Nanganallur and an argument broke between them over a parking slot.

“He wanted to use our parking lot. We agreed but demanded a nominal charge for using it. He was outraged by our demand and even broke our signboard at the parking lot,” Vijayaraghavan wrote in his complaint.

He also alleged that Dr Shanmugam began harassing her by throwing “pieces of chicken” outside her apartment despite knowing she is a vegetarian.

CCTV footage corroborates with the allegations of urinating outside the residence of the widow. However, the ABVP called the incident as a “malicious and derogatory propaganda” by the Congress’ student wing of NSUI.

"The video shared by NSUI with an allegation of harassment is tampered with and is being used with malafide intentions. The two families have discussed this within their housing society and have already concluded that the harassment allegations were caused due to misunderstandings and are untrue,” ABVP National General secretary Nidhi Tripathi said.

Vijayaraghavan also alleged in his two-page written complaint that the ABVP national president had urinated outside the woman’s apartment gate and had been throwing garbage and used masks at her gate.

In his complaint, Vijayaraghavan also said the family was “concerned about her safety” while asking police to take action against Dr Shanmugam, who he says, “has a bad track record in maintaining rapport with neighbours.”

Also Read: ABVP national president accused of harassing woman, urinating at her doorstep

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News Network
April 2,2020

Bidar, Apr 2: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Thursday confirmed that 11 people out of 27 in Bidar, who had participated in Tablighi Jamaat at Delhi's Nizamuddin Markat have been tested positive for COVID-19.

Speaking to news agency, Karnataka Health Minister said, "We are monitoring 362 people who had attended Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. Out of 27 people from Bidar who had attended, 11 have tested positive for COVID-19, while results of 16 others are awaited. Total positive cases in the state are 121."
Meanwhile, Tablighi Jamaat's Maulana Saad has stated that he will fully support the government in its fight against the coronavirus.

This comes soon after an FIR was registered against him in connection with the religious gathering organised in Markaz Nizamuddin area of the national capital.

A huge religious gathering was held at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin between March 13-15, the event came into the spotlight after multiple coronavirus cases were confirmed amongst those who attended the event held in mid-March.

An FIR has been registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897 in Delhi.
A total of 2,361 people were brought out from the Markaz in a joint operation by authorities which lasted for over 36 hours, following which the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had carried out a sanitisation of the premises and nearby area.

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