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
June 23,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 23: Police have nabbed two foreign nationals who were drawing money from ATMs of various banks by using fake ATM cards after collecting details of the card including code while customers used to withdraw money.

Police on Tuesday said that the arrested were identified as Felix Kisiibo (25), Present address Kogilu, Yelahanka, Bengaluru Native address BUGOBERO Village, Khabutoola sub-county, Manafwa District, Uganda and Khairun Abbdulla (32), Present address Kogilu, Yelahanka, Bengaluru Native address House Uzini Zanzibar, Mkele urban, Tanzania.

The duo by inserting Skirmish machine into ATM used to collect details of ATM cardholders, balance and code and then by using fake ATM cards used to withdraw the money without the knowledge of customers.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 9: Malls, restaurants and places of worship opened in Kerala on Tuesday morning after over two-and half months of Coronavirus induced lockdown. There were very few visitors in the malls and restaurants in the early hours and people preferred takeaways in eateries.

Various temples, including the famous Lord Krishna temple at Guruvayoor, a few churches and mosques opened in the state for the devotees. The Guruvayur shrine opened at 9.30 am and around 150 people, who had booked through virtual queue system, offered prayers.

Devotees wearing masks were seen standing adhering to the social distance norm. A faithful at the guruvayur temple said he had booked for darshan on Sunday and was happy to be offering worship after a long gap. "This is a realisation of a dream", he said.

In the state capital while the famed Lord Padmanabha swamy, Pazhavanangadi Ganapathy and Attukal Bhagavathy temples remained shut, the SreekanteshwaraShiva shrine and Lord Hanuman temple near the state assembly were among those which opened for darshan. The names, age and other details of the worshippers are also being collected by the temple authorities before letting people in. Another devotee said it was very painful not to go to the temple and expressed happiness over reopening of the shrines.

The virtual queue booking for devotees to offer worship at the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala would commence from Wednesday. Devotees from other states have to produce a Covid-19 negative certificate while booking,sources in the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), administers the temple, said.

The Ayyappa shrine would open from June 14 to 28 for the five day monthly pooja and temple festival and only 10 people would be allowed inside the shrine at a time, sources said.

Most of the over 1,200 temples under the TDB, have opened while those under the Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation of the Nair community and few other shrines were shut. The state government, which had come under attack from the BJP and Hindu Aikya vedi for opening the temples in a "hasty manner" has maintained that the decision was taken in line with the Centre's Unlock-1 guidelines and said those opposing the move had earlier wanted devotees to be allowed into the shrines.

As per the centre's Standard Operating Procedures, social distancing should be followed in all the places of worship and devotees should wear face mask are among other precautions in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those above 65 and children below 10 years would not be allowed in places of worship, distribution of food, refreshments and offertory blessings (prasadams), sandalwood paste or ashes should be avoided. Thermal scanners to check body temperatures, sanitiisers, arrangements for washing hands, were all provided in the temples and other places of worship which opened this morning, In churches in the state capital, Kochi and Kozhikode, allowedthe faithful inside after disinfecting the place.

The orthodox church synod is being held on Tuesday which will take a decision on whether or not to open their places of worship. Few mosques were also open in some places.

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News Network
March 4,2020

New Delhi, Mar 4: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed a trial court in Ramanagara district of Karnataka to ensure the presence of absconding self-styled godman Swami Nithyananda to face trial in a 2010 rape case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also allowed a plea by K Lenin alias Nithya Dharmananda, former driver of Nithyananda and had filed a complaint against Nithyananda, for cancellation of non-bailable warrants issued against him.

The apex court ordered the cancellation of the non-bailable warrants issued against the complainant in the case on the condition he shows up before the trial court in Ramanagara district today itself.

He had challenged the Karnataka High Court's February order where non-bailable warrants were issued against Lenin for not appearing before the court for recording evidence.

"Having heard the counsel appearing for the petitioner and upon perusal of the record, we see no reason to interfere with the judgment and order passed by the High Court, which merely directs the petitioner to give evidence in support of his complaint," read the apex court order passed on Tuesday.

The Bench also directed that "the concerned trial court shall make every effort to ensure the presence of accused (Nithyananda) to face the proceedings."

The Karnataka High Court had last month cancelled the bail granted to Nithyananda, even as the state police claimed the absconding godman was on a 'spiritual tour'.

Nithyananda is facing charges of rape and indulging in unnatural sex. He was arrested on April 22, 2010, however, granted bail on June 11, the same year.

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