SIX months after it came to power, the BJP government under Narendra Modi expanded the ministry by inducting 21 new ministers on Nov 9.
A religion-wise breakup of the ministers who took office earlier and now seems to reflect the importance the party attaches to the Christian community. There’s no Christian representation in the Modi government while every other religion has found favor with Prime Minister Modi.
The Modi government has 66 ministers on board now. Out of the 66, a whopping 62 ministers are Hindus, which is not surprising really. There are two Muslims, one Sikh and one Buddhist. Of the 66 ministers, 6 are tribals and 5 Dalits.
For a man who believes in strategic moves and tokenism to attract votes, this meticulous effort to keep Christians away from his cabinet seems to reflect the general thinking in the polity of the land – Christians as a vote bank are insignificant and don’t matter. Except perhaps in Kerala and the north-eastern states.
Modi supporters may say that the immediate focus of the saffron government is the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar and West Bengal and whatever needed to be done on that front had to be done. And, elections in Kerala and the NE states are still far away.
If induction of a Christian into the ministry had to wait until elections to a state where Christians are considered a strong vote bank are announced, then the whole exercise of picking up people to run the affairs of the country would seem to be a manipulative exercise of a wily politician and not an exercise of wisdom by a seasoned statesman. Is Modi listening?
