Team Modi, In A Hurry To Build A Strong Foundation For Growth

Team Modi, after the initial hype, has been pilloried for its inability to govern well. But all is not lost. Three solid pillars have emerged, and they are in a hurry to build a strong foundation for growth.

- Suman K. Jha & Sutanu Guru

Winning Elections is one thing. Running a government is another. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen to be good at both, the same can’t be said about his ministerial colleagues. The cocktail circuit developed its own epithets. ‘Light weight’ ministers and ‘rubber stamps’ are some of the terms used to describe the team. Some interestingly have been dubbed ‘call-drop’ minister or ‘Manu-Smriti’.

It was, in fact, getting lonely at the top for the PM, when the trio of Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Suresh Prabhu began to catch the public eye as performers. It was about time too.

NITIN GADKARI

 Roads & transport minister

• During the UPA era, highways construction pace had dipped to 2 km per day; it’s 18 km a day now.
•  Regional offices have been empowered to grant forest clearances to kickstart growth in the sector .
•  Online applications to construct rail under- and over-bridges have been allowed.

History has a way of repeating itself in interesting ways. In 2003, Prabhu spent sleepless nights preparing the historic Electricity Act, 2003 as power minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was a Shiv Sena member and a ‘technocrat’. By the time you read this, Prabhu would have delivered his third Railway Budget. In 2003, Ved Prakash Goyal was Union shipping minister. He was a lifelong BJP man and a Rajya Sabha MP. Today, his son Piyush is rated as one of the star performers in the cabinet of PM Modi as Union minister for coal, power and renewable energy.