Reports say Goa chief minister
Manohar Parrikar may be inducted as the next Defence Minister of India.
If that indeed happens, as the
Narendra Modi Cabinet expansion is due and is expected to take place during
July 9-11, that would indeed by a heartening news.
Though Manohar Parrikar denied it
just now and even said that it was a dead news after he came out of the meeting
with the prime minister, there are grounds to think so.
The five most important
ministries, Home, Defence, External Affairs, Finance and Railways, need five
men of highest integrity and credibility in a country like India where much of
the social fabric depends on how these ministries function or how the prime
minister gets these ministries to task.
Obviously, all the prime
minister's men including the prime minister himself are supposed to following
the values reflecting utmost integrity and honesty while running the
government. But, we know, practically, that is not possible.
Now, to be frank, we cannot rely
on the absolute degrees of these two modes of functioning - how these
ministries function - and - how the prime minister gets these ministries to
task. For the best case scenario on functional parameters, it has to be the
best possible mix of these two.
And induction of a man of
personal integrity and honesty like Manohar Parrikar would help Modi in
delivering better. This we can say on assessing Modi as the taskmaster, the
administrator while discharging his governance related duties. Politics aside,
he has established his reputation as a development oriented politician who has
delivered.
And Manohar Parrikar is a person
like him. If assessed on the overall parameters, he is even better than him.
And he can deliver efficiently and effectively, in a ministry that has been
riddled with mammoth corruption. The deals have been so murky and controversial
that India's defence preparedness has been effectively pushed back by years.
High level officials including at 'chief level' are facing probe.
A person like Manohar Parrikar
can certainly be the answer to the questions that would be in Narendra Modi's
mind while he would be thinking of reducing Arun Jaitley's workload who is currently
holding the additional charge of the Defence Ministry.
Let's see how valid this sources
based news comes out to be - on Sunday - or on any day during July 9-11.
Narendra Modi is in Varanasi November 7-8 and he is leaving for Myanmar on
November 12 for a long foreign trip. So, November 9-11 are the ideal days to
zero on and the 'sources' say it's going to happen on Sunday.