Team Modi has the work assignments and the prime minister, as usual, leading from the front — starting his work almost immediately after the swearing-in as he met the president of Kyrgyz Republic holding extensive bilateral talks. The person most missed in the new cabinet is going to be former finance minister Arun Jaitley who bore the frontal attacks from all sides, at times even from within. His legal expertise and firebrand defence of the government in the times of crises came in handy for the PM as well as the organisation. He has decided to focus on his health and had requested to be excused from any responsibilities. So his omission from the cabinet is understandable, even though disappointing. 

Most will also miss the humane face that Sushma Swaraj brought to the Ministry of External Affairs. She changed the way the ministry worked with the people both in India and abroad. Her Twitter handle was the beacon of help for every stranded Indian. People believed they would get help no matter the hour and the place and Team Swaraj ensured that faith was not hollow. Suresh Prabhu must be wondering what went wrong against him. He was the star performer in Vajpayee cabinet and was seen as a diligent minister till the last term. Series of railway accidents made him lose the Railways portfolio and his performance in the civil aviation ministry also did not have much to write home about. As a result, Prabhu has been left out at least in the first lot. 

The two big changes in the new cabinet are the induction of the PM’s trusted lieutenant Amit Shah and ex-foreign secretary Dr S Jaishankar. Shah getting Home Ministry has set the critics on fire, but then that’s how Shah has been treated by his opponents — it has always been by the trial by fire for him as well as his boss PM Modi. Shah knows how to take the criticism on the chin and move on. The party will be losing his Midas touch though — Shah’s phenomenal appetite for work and his political acumen, teamed with Narendra Modi’s charisma and appeal, has given the BJP a historical mandate. Whoever takes up the party reigns after Shah, has to follow his enviable track record. 

Maharashtra and Jharkhand state assembly polls are due soon and while the BJP won handsomely from these states in the recent Lok Sabha elections and is well-entrenched to repeat the success in the Assembly polls, it will still be a test for the new leader who will take over. Dr S Jaishankar’s inclusion may have surprised many but no one will doubt his ability to carry out efficiently the task of the external affairs minister. His vast experience as a career diplomat will come in handy even as Modi looks to handle new challenges, especially coming from the China front. A new world order is in the making and Prime Minister Modi has laid the groundwork in his earlier term to lead India into becoming a global superpower. The PM himself is marketing India well on various international forums and has managed to establish a personal connection with several important world leaders. It should make the work bit easy for Dr Jaishankar but there is still a lot to do. 

The Pakistan-China nexus is tough to beat and will keep throwing spanners in work for India to tackle terror that is being unleashed on us from Pakistan. Rajnath Singh, whose handling of Kashmir through difficult times, will be ready to handle the ministry of defence. He is well aware of the situation at the borders and will hit the ground running. Nirmala Sitharaman has big shoes to fill — that of Arun Jaitley. But the way she handled the Defence Ministry in her last term, inspires confidence. The Defence Ministry was considered to be the male bastion all this while, but Nirmala was more than a match. Smriti Irani has been rewarded for her giant-killer performance in Amethi where she defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi. It was a contest no one was willing to bet she would win, and yet she dug her feet in the constituency that seemed like won’t budge from its Congress leanings. 

The defeat in 2014 did not deter her and she continued to keep in touch with the voters there even as Rahul Gandhi kept roaming around the country rabble-rousing. The fact that he chose to contest simultaneously from Wayanad was the first indication that Amethi could switch sides this time. Irani did not leave any stone unturned and has rightly savoured the fruits of her labour. Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) has decided to support the government from outside as the ally was not satisfied with just one berth allotted to them. However, Nitish is well aware that with the BJP enjoying an absolute majority, there is little that he can do besides registering a protest. All in all, the second avatar of the Team Modi has begun on the right note. Well begun is half done, they say.