In a major cabinet re-shuffle, prime minister Modi has decided to give additional charge of the finance ministry to railways minister Piyush Goyal until current finance minister Arun Jaitley recovers. Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS on Monday morning and it is being reported that it will take six to eight weeks before he is fit enough to resume his duties.
This was a critical situation for the Modi government. Arun Jaitley has not only been an authoritative finance minister but he is also one of the senior most leaders of the BJP. At such a crucial juncture, Piyush Goyal has again proved to be prime minister Modi’s go to man. He has once again come to the rescue of the present government. Piysuh Goyal has already proved his mettle and that he is capable of dealing with any crisis situation. In fact, he had taken over the railways minister when the current government was facing massive propaganda due to unfortunate rail accidents. However, Piyush Goyal handled the delicate situation with perfection. In a short span of time, he achieved the best safety record for the railways till date. It is for the first time that the railways has reduced accidents to a two-digit figure. In 2017-18, the total number of rail accidents was brought down to seventy-three under Piyush Goyal’s leadership from one hundred four in 2016-17. Given the miserable track record of the railways as far as rail accidents are concerned, this is no mean feat.
Before this, Piyush Goyal had set new records of efficiency as far as the power ministry is concerned. Taking independent charge of the power ministry, he literally moved India towards the light. He gave a huge push to prime minister Modi’s promise of electrifying every village in India by May 2018. By the time Piyush Goyal had to leave for an even bigger assignment, he had made sure that most of the hard work was done and the country easily completed the electrification process well within the deadline.
Being a crucial asset of the government and the nation, Piyush Goyal has been a target of the agenda-driven news traders in the recent past. The Wire infamous for its anti government propaganda and for making personal attacks without any substance, has done two such fake stories on railways minister Piyush Goyal as a part of its agenda to malign the popular minister. The Congress also started asking for his resignation for trivial, motivated and concocted allegations. However, the minister has remained unscathed by all such allegations and it seems that the minister is now the go to man for the BJP and prime minister Modi. He has proved his worth time and again. His efficiency and brilliant performance record speaks for him.
Apart from the big decision to give additional charge of the finance ministry to Piyush Goyal, there have been some other major changes also. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, presently the minister of state for youth affairs and sports, is now going to take charge of the Information and Broadcasting ministry. Meanwhile, Smriti Irani is going to retain the textiles ministry. Moreover, S.S. Ahluwalia, who is currently the minister of state for drinking water and sanitation is now going to take charge as the minister of state for electronics and information technology.
However, the key takeaway from this shuffle coming a day prior to the Karnataka elections remains how Piyush Goyal has become a man of all seasons for prime minister Modi. Whenever faced with a crisis situation, the Modi government relies on Piyush Goyal’s efficiency, a man who continues to impress with a brilliant track record.