Modi axes 12 in cabinet revamp after virus anger

NEW DELHI－In a massive cabinet revamp, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped 12 senior ministers on Wednesday and inducted a younger team with the aim of refurbishing his government's image after widespread criticism of its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, whose response to the pandemic came under close examination, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Law and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar were among those who resigned hours ahead of the reshuffle.

Prasad was involved in a bitter row with Twitter over India's new internet regulations, which digital activists said could curtail online speech and privacy. Ashwini Vaishnaw has been named to replace Prasad.

Mansukh Mandaviya replaces Vardhan as the new health minister, according to a statement by the president's office. He is from Modi's home state of Gujarat.

Official sources said Vardhan had to pay the political price for the government's struggles to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections.

At a ceremony in the presidential palace on Wednesday, 15 cabinet ministers and 28 junior ministers were sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind. Eight junior ministers were promoted to cabinet rank.

The new faces took the number of ministers to 77, up from 52. A maximum of 81 ministers, including junior ministers, can be part of India's union cabinet.

While deciding on his new cabinet, Modi tried to include ministers representing almost all the alliance partners, states, classes and sections of Indian society.

Modi retained Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

'Miserable' failure

This is the first cabinet reshuffle since Modi was returned to power for a second term in 2019.

"In one clean sweep, you have senior ministers being removed. The government has admitted by these changes that it has failed miserably in handling the pandemic as it should have," said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a well-known journalist and political analyst in India.

More than half of India's reported 400,000 coronavirus deaths－the third highest in the world－have occurred over the past two months as the Delta variant tore through the nation and overwhelmed its already strained health system.

Many experts suspect the true toll is several times higher.

The reshuffle also came after the defeat of Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the April elections in key West Bengal state, a test of its handling of the pandemic.

Modi will face another major test of his popularity in legislative elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand states in February and March next year, which may prove to be a bellwether for his party's fate in the 2024 national elections.