Will PM Modi undertake transformational changes this month?
In his third term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose continuity over transformational change in his Cabinet and the top echelons of bureaucracy.
While PM Modi does not believe in the optics of change for the sake of change, the bureaucracy (which is fantastic weather wane) and the Opposition thought that the NDA government has come under pressure of coalition politics and is hence afraid to take big decisions. This is going to change soon.
The attitude of young BJP leaders in Parliament, who are not afraid of taking on the Congress High Command, and the Cabinet decisions are indicative that August is going to be a key month for decisive changes in governance.
The immediate repatriation of BSF DG Nitin Agarwal to his cadre indicates that the Modi government is all set to make big changes in bureaucracy this month. August is also the month when hardworking Rajiv Gauba and Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla complete five years on Raisina Hill and there are strong indications of fresh blood being inducted into the jobs.
The Modi government is also unhappy with the performance of top officers in charge of national security and may go in for a sudden change in consultation with Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Hard steps will also be taken to retrieve the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir so that Pak-backed terrorists do not get the upper hand and the situation does not slide to the pre-August 5, 2019 era. In this context, the intelligence and the security network as well as the synergy between them will be revived and enforced, respectively.
Knowing fully well that the politics of the INDI alliance is to consolidate the Muslim vote bank and split the Hindu majority votes by exploiting caste fault lines before the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, the Modi government has decided to take on the Opposition by horns in Centre as well as the States. The aggression of UP CM Yogi Adityanath against the INDI alliance this week in the State Assembly is an indicator of things to come.
As the BJP faces anti-incumbency in both Maharashtra and Haryana, there are intelligence inputs to indicate that the Muslim clerics are willing to support Uddhav Thackeray as future CM candidate to split the Hindu vote in the crucial state. To add to BJP’s problems is the power tussle within the state units.
Even though the Opposition has tried to scratch the sheen away from the PM by consistently attacking him, the complacency of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections among the party workers is all gone with Narendra Modi firmly at the helm of government and party affairs.
The roar of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in the assembly this week also shows that PM Modi is backing the state leader fully with a stern message to all his alleged political rivals within the party and the Cabinet.
While the bureaucracy thinks that PM Modi may have lost his mojo after the 2024 election results, the third time PM is not missing a single step and firing on all cylinders. Just as he showed in Gujarat from 2002-2014, PM Modi plans to meet Opposition aggression upfront as he firmly believes in Newton’s third law of motion and not the first law. His speech from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort on August 15, 2024, is expected to pitch for transformational change with merit on priority. Bureaucracy and BJP leaders better watch out.