On January 29, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee undertook the most significant of his all-too-frequent Cabinet reshuffles. It is another thing that political analysts insist on calling it the Deputy Prime Minister’s reshuffle and not Vajpayee’s. The distinction is irrelevant as both Vajpayee and Advani are the topmost members of the Cabinet. There may be major political perceptions on who upstaged whom in reinventing the cabinet, but the fact is that it has been done and although the political significance varies according to different political analysts, everybody including the media is broadly in agreement that it will prove good for the economy. The bare bones are that eight ministers were dropped and eight new ministers were inducted, all 16 belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

This last is very significant as it appears to indicate that the BJP, labouring as it does under political and coalition pressures and compulsions, appreciates that political manoeuvring at the cost of the economy has reached a point of no return and, pre-election year or not, economic reforms cannot be ignored any further.

Basically, three postings (and changes) in the Cabinet underpin the BJP’s focus on the economy. These are: the shifting of Telecommunications Minister Pramod Mahajan, the induction of Arun Jaitley and the assigning of important new portfolios to Arun Shourie who continues to control the Ministry of Disinvestment as well. Ironically, the Finance Ministry which, ever since independence, was the centre of all economic activity, has not figured in the change of departments except that it has regained the Department of Company Affairs. This indicates the BJP’s perception that the need of reforms is now more in the non-financial areas than in the banks and credit policies which are now mostly in the hands of regulators, including that super-regulator the Reserve Bank of India, and are amenable to tweaking within a fixed overall policy umbrella.

Pramod Mahajan: The most significant aspect of the reshuffle concerns this blue-eyed boy of the BJP who has been touted as a dynamic youthful leader and, in some quarters, even as being in the queue for the prime minister’s post. Intelligent, capable of understanding the complex pushes and pulls of a technological portfolio such as Telecommunications, Mahajan has shown that he has the ability. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, he developed an in-your-face arrogance that became more and more evident and ultimately proved embarrassing to the party in power and also alienated industry and the general public.

The latter sections were somewhat put off by his designer life style and arrogant public pronouncements. For instance, in a TV interview by Veer Sanghvi, Mahajan was asked how many air-conditioners he had at home and he nonchalantly replied, "I don’t know, about six or eight." In a country where most people cannot afford even a ceiling fan, this was not appreciated by the people. Again, when A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was the president-elect, Mahajan tried to stage-manage his first press conference and was quite overbearing towards Kalam. The latter, of course, in his quiet manner, made him understand that he was quite capable of handling the press by himself. Nor did Mahajan’s statement that Kalam and Shekhawat (the Vice President) were successful satellite launches of the BJP gain him any
kudos.

Where he proved an embarrassment to the BJP and earned the dislike of the telecom industry was his tendency to treat TRAI as a handmaiden of the Ministry, his overt inclination towards a major private player in the telecom field (why mince words, it was Reliance) and this knowingly allowing BSNL and MTNL to bar connectivity to cell companies during the-cell versus-basic controversy result in great inconvenience to the general public. That the media connected him to a sensational murder case did not help him any.

So, Mahajan’s marching orders from the Telecommunications Ministry was a strong indicator that the BJP did not want anybody playing ducks and drakes with the sunrise industry.

Arun Jaitley: Also young, a very intelligent Supreme Court lawyer specialising in constitutional matters and brash, but in a sophisticated manner unlike Pramod Mahajan. Jaitley was on the verge of initiating some much wanted-judicial reforms, including throwing out many ancient legislations and reducing the number of appeals permitted and, in short, making sure that justice was not denied by virtue of delay. He had ruffled the feathers of that section of the legal fraternity whose livelihood depended on delaying justice and there were quite a few protests against his proposals. Unfortunately, Jaitley was deputed to party work in Gujarat where he was instrumental in ensuring that the BJP retained the State in the recent elections. His re-induction into the Cabinet may be seen as a reward for his good work for the party but it does not gainsay his ability or dedication to legal reforms in the country. That he has been given back his previous law portfolio indicates the realisation that legal reforms are as much, if not more essential, than financial reforms in improving the image of India in the investing community, both domestic and foreign. It is also a commitment on the NDA agenda.

That Arun Jaitley has also been entrusted with the very important economic portfolio of commerce and industry adds weight to the BJP’s focus on the Indian economy. We can now expect speedy reforms in the legal area and also a much more pragmatic approach to World Trade Organisation compulsions.

Arun Shourie: The epitome of what a public man should be. Soft spoken, capable of pragmatic initiatives and the ability to defend them logically, Arun Shourie has taken full advantage of his tremendous journalistic skills in sensitising the Government to the need for an essential, but very controversial, aspect of reforms—the divestment of Government involvement in business activities. Since most ministries (and ministers) use the public sector as milch cows, there was strong animus against Shourie’s ministry. When he brought off the first major disinvestment programme in India, the anti-brigade stepped up their opposition to such an extent that it was freely speculated in the media and political circles that Arun Shourie would soon exit the Ministry, or even the Cabinet. It did not happen. Not only has Shourie retained the Disinvestment Ministry, he has also been given Telecommunications and Information Technology which were taken away from Pramod Mahajan. There has already been a revolution in telecommunications in India which has highlighted the country’s image on the world economic stage, as quality and unrestricted communications are an essential component in any foreign investment decision. Shourie can be trusted to continue the reforms in this area and, more important, give back the dignity and authority of regulatory authorities which were shamelessly usurped by the ministry.