The cabinet of the Government was reshuffled yesterday. Cabinet reshuffles once in a while are good if they weed out the bad and provide an opportunity to the able. In the run up to the elections cabinet reshuffles can be a vote catching gimmick. Like this one reached out to the youth of India with the induction of two young ministers.
But what was really sad about the reshuffle was that Mani Shankar Aiyar was divested of the Sports portfolio, which was given to M.S.Gill. Aiyar was a voice of sanity and credibility in the mad and selfish world of Indian politics. He could envisage and plan. Gill, the former chief election commissioner, is at best an administrator, who may be able follow a given road map but can definitely not create one. His induction into the ministry stinks.
India does not need a Sports Ministry. There are far more serious issues that the government needs to handle. But if there has to be a Sports minister, one like Aiyar is needed. He tried to free the various sports federations from the almost proprietary control the federation chiefs exercised, by holding up the funds allotted to the federations for want of planning and accountability. In the recent past Aiyar had taken Suresh Kalmadi, the president of the Indian Olympic association, head on over the financial requirements for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in 2010. The amount demanded by Kalmadi was preposterous according to Aiyar, who asked for a justification. Clearly Kalmadi has more clout than Aiyar in the corridors of power and Aiyar was shown the door.
The Commonwealth Games of 2010 is a huge financial pie and there are many who were in line for slices. You can bet they did not want the size of the pie to come down. Maybe Aiyar was holding out for a share himself. But I would not like to think so. When this government was formed in 2004, Aiyar was given the Petroleum Ministry. Then he had a confrontation with none other than the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Rahul Gandhi himself. Rahul Gandhi had wanted a Petroleum Research Institute in his constituency, but Aiyar put his foot down stating that there were no activities related to petroleum in that constituency to merit such an institute there.
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