By Sushil Kutty
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers is full of tough cookies, from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who warned Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha that refusing to accept a law passed in Parliament would not be tolerated. Then, there is Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who put Pakistan on notice on the PoK issue, Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir, stating that Pakistan’s PoK days are numbered.
Then, there is Union Health Minister JP Nadda, who told voters at large that the “BJP doesn’t need the RSS any longer”? Tough talk, indeed. Everybody thought Nadda was stamp paper, even toilet paper. But the BJP and Prime Minister Modi continue to hold Nadda in high regard and the RSS can’t help but hang on in the sidelines!
Even the ladies in Modi’s Council of Ministers are tough as nails. Union Minister For Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, for instance, with a record number of Union Budgets in her bonnet. The record income tax rebate to the salaried in the Union Budget won the BJP not only the Delhi Assembly Elections but Kejriwal was also out the door!
Bottom-line: All the Modi ministers seem to have taken a cue from the 56″ chest. The Modi who rubs shoulders with the most powerful man on the planet and is a friend of the richest man on Earth! President Donald Trump and SpaceX/Tesla CEO Elon Musk are admirers although it’s the Australian Prime Minister who calls Modi ‘Boss’.
It is another matter that President Donald Trump, in his knee-length black overcoat, looks the ‘Boss’. Trump’s long trench coat projects strength and confidence. How about Modi in his churidars and grey-black waistcoat? Of late, Modi has also been experimenting with a ‘folded hand’ deference, especially when meeting with Pasmanda and Bohra Muslim voters.
Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi a master of deception? Modi’s Council of Ministers doles Modi respect. Top BJP ministers and BJP spokespersons don’t forget to add ‘Yashasvi’ and ‘Prashasvi’ to the Modi name. Even heavyweights like Amit Shah. But Modi doesn’t hesitate to speak dismissively of his political adversaries.
Is Modi the original tough cookie? A comparison is made with his UPA predecessor, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Of Modi’s ministers, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is considered a tough cookie. Goyal most recently raised the topic of ‘start-ups’ and, comparing China’s start-ups with India’s start-ups, said that India’s start-ups could do with a change of taking the tough road!
Then again, which minister would say India will never negotiate at gunpoint? “At gunpoint” and “negotiate” are opposites and Goyal made it plain that India cannot be hurried. “We will always put India first and will ensure that a deal is finalised keeping (with) that sentiment in mind,” Goyal said.
“We never negotiate at gunpoint. Favourable time constraints motivate us for quicker talks, but till the time we are not able to secure the interest of our country and our people, we do not hurry (into any deal),” Goyal added. “All our trade talks are progressing well, in the spirit of India First…Trade talks proceed when both sides are sensitive to each other’s concerns and requirements.”
Does that sound like a tough cookie? What about External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar who spelled out his thoughts on India’s trade talks with the United States at the Carnegie Global Technology Summit and said, “…the US has a view of India, India too, has a view of the United States and that is something they did not get the last time… They have their view of us, and frankly, we have our view of them. The bottom line is that they didn’t get that.”
India’s ministers have also been talking tough with Canada in the recent past and the Biden administration didn’t find it easy going, either. The Trump administration believes Modi can be swung whichever way Trump wants Modi to swing. Trump knows how to massage the Modi ego. But all is working to Modi’s advantage as we can see from the smooth extradition of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Even a trade deal with America won’t ruin Modi and his council of ministers’ ‘tough cookies’ image.
Finally, talking of tough cookies in the Modi ministry, the toughest one turned out to be Union Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who introduced the amended Wakf Board Act 2025 in Parliament and in a second longest introduction in the Indian Parliament history in terms of hours debated won the day and Parliament with the passage of, hopefully, a very tough Act! (IPA Service)
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