Nirmala Sitharaman becomes the second woman to hold the Defence Ministry portfolio.
The RSS on Sunday congratulated the new cabinet and applauded the government for appointing Nirmala Sitharaman as Defence Minister. “It is a good decision. We welcome her,” said RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (chief spokesperson) Manmohan Vaidya. He was speaking to reporters after the three-day Samanvay Baithak of RSS and its affiliate organisations. After the meet, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav told reporters, “We have seen some good decisions being made and some great people being inducted in the cabinet, especially Nirmala Sitharaman.”
“We are not focusing only on south India but on the whole country. Yes, Kerala and Karnataka matter to us…but good governance is the idea,” he added. “Both Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman are great leaders, let’s not create a gender discourse,” he said. The RSS also praised the Centre for its “tough” handling of the Doklam crisis. “Perhaps for the first time India’s stand was very tough. Entire world has seen and acknowledged that China was forced to withdraw,” said Vaidya.
The organisations which attended the RSS meet included Sanskar Bharti, Sahkar Bharti and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. Top brass of RSS, including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Sarkaryavah Bhaiyyaji Joshi, and senior leaders of various organisations were present. These organisations also supported the demonetisation move during the meet. “Shocks (in economy) were witnessed earlier but now people are coming out of those shocks and are realising that the demonetisation decision will benefit country in the long run,” Vaidya said.
