Why Rajnath Singhis the Home Minister India Desperately Needed?
The Home Ministry is an extraordinarily significant Ministry in the Indian Context, primarily because it is concerned with the most basic of State Craft that is protection of its citizens from the internal and the external enemies. Off late India had been devoid of capable Home Ministers at the Union level. The greatest low being appointment of Sushil Kumar Shinde as the Union Home Minister for a person who had served as Governor which is usually considered as retirement from active politics and for his extraordinary stint as the Power Minister when there was the greatest Grid Failure in the history of Independent India even as the country reached a standstill in the true sense of the term.
India is plagued by a number of issues that the Ministry of Home Affairs is supposed to tackle from adverse Borders in the North and the Northwest regions to Naxalism in Central India, every other region provides a unique problem. Inaccessible and remote locations provide another challenge in form of Disaster Management capabilities. The Home Ministry is thus not only responsible for guarding our borders to protect our sovereignty but it is also responsible for taking care of all secessionists in order to protect our unity and integrity. The situation was grave some 2 years ago before an unsung hero called Rajnath Singh arrived on the scene. We therefore analyze what all has changed under him.
Rajnath Singh – A stern Minister:
As rhetorical as it may sound the UPA Ministers used phrases like ‘Bade bade sheharo me chotti chotti baate to hoti rehti hain’ when the Financial Capital of India was gripped by terrorism, ‘Aantaknkiyo ki lashe dekhke aanso aagye’. From such terrorist sympathetic atmosphere we have reached a situation where the Union Home Minister says those who question the unity and integrity of India will definitely be booked when a group of JNU students raise provocative anti India slogans. He does not limit it to words and action has been actually taken on ground. Pseudo Seculars may cry foul but this is what an average Nationalist Indian always wanted.
Improved Disaster Management:
Remember how Rahul Gandhi flagged off trucks a couple of days after floods had actually gotten better of Uttarakhand in 2013 and they trucks went out of fuel within their way to Uttarakhand. Well an earthquake struck Nepal a couple of years later and among all superpowers India was the first country to provide extensive help both by road and air.
For a country which either had neither the infrastructure nor the culture of tackling disasters, whether man made or natural, foreign countries have now started studying how India tackled several disasters not only in India but even in the Middle East in 2015.
India has vast geographical variations and we face at least one manmade disaster on annual basis, disaster management though has been ignored in the last 6 decades or so. Finally, a Home Minister has started realizing its value and has shown the ability to act promptly.
Drop in Left Wing Extremism, ever since Rajnath Singh took control of the MHA:
One of the major achievements of Modi Government which has been undermined by the mainstream media is the fact that naxalism is on the decline and is not as active as it used to be some years ago. Even in the Northeast a major breakthrough was reached as the Government entered into a peace agreement with NCSN (IM). The agreement entailed phase wise decommissioning of arms held by the Naga insurgent groups.
Many years down the line we will only have memories of the surgical air strikes carried out by the Commandos under the Supervision of the NSA and the Union Ministry of Defence but we might with time forget such negotiations which not merely marked the end of one of many hostile chapters in Northeast India but also marked a new beginning.
Rajnath Singh is closer to Forces:
The Paramilitary Forces faced great instability during the tenure of previous Government. On the contrary, Rajnath Singh has shown the capability of interacting with the troops at the ground level. Moreover, he has started a positive trend of attending Raising Ceremonies (Foundation Days for Forces) instead of sending in the Ministers of State thereby motivating the troops.
Rajnath Singh thus has acted like a true leader and has endeavored to develop close connections with the Troops by reaching in between them. Therefore, a paramilitary troop sitting in an isolated corner of the country would no longer feel that his ultimate leader, i.e. the Home Minister is indifferent regarding him/ her.
Conclusion:
India not only faces a host of external enemies it faces the same number of enemies from inside if not more. The critical portfolio of Union Home Minister was changed several times in the past few years lending it unprecedented instability. We thus, needed a stern Home Minister who instead of focusing on vote bank priorities would act in National interest. Rajnath Singh is the Home Minister we desperately needed.