Normal life will take a while to figure out the “new normal” but as far as politicians are concerned it is back to business as usual. The Rajya Sabha elections have been slated for mid-June, finally Jyotiraditya Scindia can get that seat he has gambled his political future on. A ministership should follow soon as that apparently was part of the “crossing over” package. In fact, I had written last weekend in The Sunday Guardian about a possible cabinet reshuffle and it’s a testament to the reach of that paper that since then one has got a lot of feedback, and concerned queries. But since none of those who got back to me were either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah, one is still working in the realm of speculation. But with Parliament reconvening in July, the reshuffle — if it happens — will take place sometime this month.
It’s not just Scindia who has to be accommodated. Some key ministries may see a change of guard; heads have to roll for some of the mess ups during the Covid (mis)management.
The first state elections that are due this year are in Bihar where the state CM is facing flak for his (mis) handling of the migrant crisis. As political strategist Prashant Kishor told NewsX in a recent interview, and I paraphrase his comments here — he (Nitish) must be the only democratically elected leader who did not take back his own people. First, he let them languish outside the state for two months in metros where there was a high risk, and now he is bringing them back without any facilities of testing. But the surprise here is that the state opposition lead by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also did little to help the migrant worker. There are those within the BJP who are worried that Nitish’s attitude may reflect badly on their alliance in the coming elections but apparently the Bihar CM has some backing within the Sangh, so that relationship will continue.
If we do an informal Covid report card as to which state handled the pandemic best, Kerala tops the list, with Assam a close second. In the latter, it is health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who is at the frontlines. Having been health minister of the state for the last 13 years, he was already familiar with the state’s capacity and systems he had put in place well before Covid happened.
But if we are looking for those that could’ve handled the crisis better, the NCR comes to mind. Caught between the politics of three governments, Delhi (AAP), Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (BJP) it is the citizens who are suffering. First, the Haryana health minister blamed Delhi for the rising cases and sealed the state’s borders with the capital. Ditto for the UP government. Now, when lockdown is unlocking, and seeing the Covid cases rising in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has done a quid pro quo and sealed the borders from Delhi’s side. Caught in between is the poor commuter, that employee who lives in Noida, Gurgaon or Faridabad and has to travel to Delhi or vice versa. Moreover, despite Modi’s appeal to the contrary, not all employers are giving employees the options to work from home once the lockdown has opened up. So, one hopes Kejriwal reviews this decision by the end of the week, keeping political one-upmanship aside.
As I said, as far as politics is concerned, the old normal prevails.