Letters: Cabinet performance

I couldn't have agreed more with Shekhar Gupta's objective assessment in his column, "Modi's talent account deficit" (July 2). Right at the outset of the Cabinet formation exercise, Arun Jaitley, who was not in good health at the time, was appointed finance minister and also given the additional charge of the important defence ministry for about six months. This was something unprecedented.

That Jaitley, since being relieved of the defence ministry portfolio, holds the additional charge of the information and broadcasting ministry indicates there is either a talent deficit or a trust deficit or both in the National Democratic Alliance government.

I fail to understand Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reluctance, or possibly helplessness, in selecting talent from outside the present Cabinet, where it is available in plenty - as was done by his predecessors even though they were arguably not as strong as he is believed to be.

It could be that he is supreme within the Bharatiya Janata Party, but is still constrained by the wishes of powerful members of the Sangh Parivar, despite claims this is not so.

While highlighting the lacklustre performance of some of the Cabinet ministers, I wish Gupta had also focused on the performance of Human Resource (HR) Minister Smriti Irani, who was mired in controversy and legal battles over her educational qualification and allegedly precipitated student unrest on the campuses of some centrally-funded universities. A gift of the gab is no substitute for efficiency in an important ministry.

Now that Modi has reviewed the report card of his ministers, let us wait and watch for a Cabinet expansion or reshuffle.

S K Choudhury, Bengaluru

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