Latest News : Mission Uttar Pradesh Narendra Modi Cabinet Expansion Sends Clear Signal earlier than Make or Break Polls

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 It’s Mission UP: Narendra Modi Cabinet Expansion Sends Clear Signal earlier than Make or Break Polls

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Big Ideas Are Alive and Well in U.S. Politics

Diversity in government. Take a seem to be at pics of the George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) cabinet, or his White House staff. It appears enormously an awful lot like Lyndon Johnson’s (1963-1969) cupboard and White House staff, and now not all that exclusive from, say, Benjamin Harrison’s cupboard in the 1880s. Lots and plenty of Anglo men. There have been occasional exceptions in the 2d 1/2 of the twentieth century, however that’s what they were: Exceptions. And no longer simply in the government branch. Congress was once in general white men.

Women sooner or later started out transferring in small numbers into legislatures and the occasional government position, however neither birthday party made any effort to nominate them and frequently actively adversarial them. Black politicians commenced prevailing masses of elections after the Voting Rights Act exceeded in 1965, however Democrats have been reluctant to nominate Black candidates until the constituency was once overwhelmingly Black. Republicans had infrequently any Black candidates, to start with.

We do now not but have across-the-board parity, however from 2000 to 2021 there’s been an absolute revolution in inclusion and diversity. That’s capped off by means of the Joe Biden presidency, which has reached parity for ladies and facets  Black officers and individuals of different traditionally left out ethnic groups. It’s an awesome achievement, each symbolically and substantively.

The Affordable Care Act. For decades, very little did occur in fitness care different than a gradual deterioration of a reputation quo that no one favored to start with. Obamacare modified all of that beginning in 2010.

No, it’s now not standard coverage, however, it’s a nationally legislated gadget that receives a massive section of the way there and consists of the framework for more. And whilst Republicans nonetheless oppose it, they have surprisingly lots conceded the key desires of the system; their failure to discover a choice is in section due to the fact they are rhetorically committed, for example, to key ACA achievements such as the prohibition in opposition to denying insurance due to the fact of pre-existing conditions, a phrase that is possible to fade from most people’s vocabularies. Like it or not, Obamacare was once a large coverage change.

Marriage equality and LGBT rights. In 2004, Republicans had been so assured that same-sex marriage used to be a weird, radical concept that they made opposition to it a foremost section of their marketing campaign — and many Democrats ducked the issue. Now, no longer solely is marriage equality the regulation of the land and for the most part, a non-issue widespread with the aid of leaders of each parties, however the well-known integration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans into political existence is exceptionally shut to a performed deal. To be sure, there are lots of live issues, and discrimination has now not been banished from the land. But the variations in the lifestyle between 1995 and 2021 are massive, and so are the modifications in the regulation and in possibilities for political participation

Cabinet ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan. (Image: Twitter/ANI)Cabinet ministers at Rashtrapati

With seven new inductions from UP, the BJP conceded that in spite of its seeming invincibility, it may want to no longer desire away its allies and the votes they delivered to the table.

Narendra Modi’s first cupboard enlargement or reorganization in his 2d time period as the Prime Minister used to be big at a couple of layers. An infusion of professionalism barring inducting “lateral entrants”, ushering in the subsequent technology of management in the BJP except subjecting the birthday celebration to the throes that continually comply with tries to carry in deep-seated adjustments in say, the Congress, making a half-hearted effort to reward the “performers” and penalize the “non-performers”, reaffirming the large top class which Modi locations on loyalty and have faith and no longer the least, tailoring the exercising to swimsuit the compulsions of electoral politics.

It was once believed that Modi embarked on the cupboard expansion/shuffle from a role of vulnerability added about by using the ballot reversal in West Bengal, the pandemic-wreaked devastation made worse by means of administration system faults and a downbeat economy. However, the large brush strokes, seen in the ouster of senior ministers such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar (who additionally doubled as the government’s chief spokesperson in addition to being the Information and Broadcasting Minister), Harsh Vardhan and Santosh Gangwar, the downsizing of perceived heavyweights and the elevation of some ministers, advise that the workout used to be carried out from a function of unchallenged strength.

BIG CHANGES AT THE TOP

There used to be no doubt that after a horrific year-and-a-half, Modi’s ministerial council wanted a lick of varnish. That “talent” and “efficiency” have been required proper at the pinnacle was once signaled in the induction of Ashwini Vaishnav, a former bureaucrat who had served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO and used to be first-class acknowledged for appearing as a bridge between the BJP and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD).  

Vaishnav was once from the Odisha IAS cadre and will be in cost of two big-ticket ministries, Railways and Information and Technology and Communications. Railways was once held through Piyush Goyal and IT and Communications with the aid of Ravi Shankar Prasad.

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Hardeep Puri used to be now not solely promoted as a cupboard minister, he received the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry in addition to Housing and Urban Affairs—clearly a consciousness of the unwavering protection he put up for the Central Vista, a task that provoked flak from quite a few quarters. Equally, Javadekar’s exit confirmed he used to be maybe now not up to scratch in portraying the authorities in the “right” mild when it used to be underneath siege. It is in all likelihood that with a slew of nation elections and the fighting of 2024, Prasad and Goyal will be worried extra deeply in the BJP organisation.

That used to be the message from the modifications carried out in the top rung of the ministerial hierarchy. The considerable social alerts had been beamed from the inductions decrease down the scale, factoring in the urgent needs coming from the Assembly elections from right here on as nicely as the commonplace election. These have been evident in the significance accorded to Uttar Pradesh—the centerpiece of the subsequent battle—Uttarakhand and Manipur, to a lesser extent, whilst Punjab didn’t determine in the BJP’s political schema. The closing is an admission of the BJP’s incapacity to be a good-sized participant in Punjab, having misplaced its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Therefore, the recreation proves the care and concept that went into the additions and deletions, reinforcing a grasp that Modi has little endurance with making electoral investments that will no longer deliver workable dividends. UP and Uttarakhand have to be retained at all costs, the creases in Gujarat have to be straightened out whilst balance in Karnataka, the BJP’s solely stronghold in the south, can't be bartered away to preserve chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s everlasting baiters were happy.

THE UP CAST MATRIX

In UP, which noticed seven inductions, the BJP conceded that in spite of its seeming invincibility, it should no longer desire away its allies and the votes they introduced to the table. Therefore, Anupriya Patel who heads the Apna Dal (Sonelal) used to be added in, notwithstanding being surpassed over in 2019. An MP from Mirzapur in east UP, Anupriya represents the backward caste Kurmis, who make up the “creamy layer” of the socially and economically empowered backward castes with the Yadavs and Lodh-Rajputs.

Unlike Bihar, the place Kurmis have remained with the Janata Dal (United) exceptionally due to the fact of Nitish Kumar’s leadership, in UP their votes have a tendency to shift between the 4 principal players, along with the Congress, which netted most of the Kurmi votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Since 2014, the Kurmis rooted for the BJP however there’s no gainsaying that the allegiance is fixed. The Kurmi critical additionally explains why Pankaj Chaudhary, Maharajganj MP, located a area in the ministerial council.

However, Santosh Gangwar, additionally a Kurmi and one of the BJP’s most profitable MPs who received his seat more than one instances from Bareilly, used to be dropped. What explains the move, mainly because the BJP has now not nurtured every other Kurmi chief from Rohilkhand, a Muslim-strong place the place the Samajwadi Party (SP) has a substantial presence? The inference inside the BJP used to be Gangwar publicly displayed his anger with the UP authorities for exacerbating the pandemic disaster in a letter.

That nevertheless does now not provide an explanation for how every other MP, Kaushal Kishore of Mohan Lalganj, used to be accommodated. Kishore, a former CPI member, used to be the first to communicate out towards the kingdom authorities for the duration of the fitness crisis. Kishore is a Dalit Passi regarded for his activism on floor zero. His induction is an consequence of the BJP’s method to knit collectively the Dalit sub-castes to counter the BSP’s following amongst the dominant Jatavs. However, like the Kurmi votes, the Passis too have no everlasting loyalties and regularly have a tendency to vote a caste candidate as an alternative than a party.

The appointment of a Brahmin from north-central UP, two Kurmis from Poorvanchal, a Lodh from Rohilkhand, a Koeri from Bundelkhand, a Passi from Awadh and a Gaderia-Dangar from Braj, marks one of the most concerted efforts by means of the BJP to in shape the splintered caste portions into a complicated mosaic making up the social fabric.

LOOKING BEYOND UP

In Gujarat, which polls in November-December 2022, the BJP tried a balancing act. Two Patels, Parshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandavia, had been upgraded to cupboard rank, ostensibly to quell the demand for projecting a Patel as the CM candidate—a clamour that by no means thrilled the BJP brass. Three backward caste MPs Devusinh Chauhan, Darshana Jardosh and Mahendra Munjpara have been made ministers.

Since the 2012 elections, when the BJP’s Patel base (consolidated on the grounds that the 1995 elections that noticed Keshubhai Patel emerge as the leader) appeared uncertain, Modi resorted to a tactic of regrouping Gujarat’s massive however unacknowledged OBC base. He succeeded and in that election as nicely as the following one, the OBCs steadied the BJP’s ship.

Keeping 2024 in thought and the want to perhaps increase its base past the catchment areas of the north and west, the BJP delivered in as many as 4 MPs from West Bengal. The Bengal bounty displays the BJP’s doggedness to keep on to the positive factors made in the Assembly elections and now not lose the gain amassed in the ultimate Lok Sabha polls.

Odisha—billed as a dawn country for the BJP—found illustration in the shape of Ashwini Vaishnaw (although a Rajya Sabha MP) and Bishweswar Tudu (MoS in Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti). However, Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP’s great recognised chief from Odisha, was once moved from investment-heavy Petroleum to Education. Does it suggest a concession to Naveen Patnaik’s grip over the nation and the BJP’s incapability to destroy in?

Likewise, barring Karnataka, the south stays a project even though G. Kishan Reddy, its Telangana chief and MP, was once promoted to cupboard rank and given the culture, tourism and north-east place development portfolios that will be monitored by using the PM. In conclusion, Modi and the BJP effected a few prospectively far-reaching modifications however the actual take a look at of their efficacy will be viewed in the impending elections