Opinion: The Age Of The 'Super-Bureaucrat' In New India

A month ago, two important poll-bound state governments took office - Punjab, in a telenovela Congress drama format, and Gujarat with a secretive algorithm where all the BJP MLAs were cast as silent film stars. Their first weeks in office provide important pointers to the future course of federalism in the country.

But first, the chronology.

In Gujarat, the four-and-a-half year old government of Vijay Rupani was singed by the Central Command's disapproval, and before the beginning of the inauspicious Shradh period, the Chief Minister obligingly resigned on September 11, saying that in the BJP's tradition, he was now passing the baton to party colleague Bhupendra Patel, who had not served even as a junior in any earlier state Cabinet. On September 13, Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as the new Chief Minister in the smiling presence of Gujarat's second-tallest leader, Amit Shah. And a couple of days later, 23 BJP MLAs were sworn in as ministers; not one of them had ever held a ministerial office earlier. At the Raj Bhavan swearing-in ceremony, each member of the out-going Cabinet retreated into radio silence, and even the erstwhile Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, only moaned in sentimental ambiguities.

But here's a trick question: On September 13, simultaneously with the swearing-in of Bhupendra Patel as the new Chief Minister, why was another notable given his seventh extension since his retirement in 2013? This luminary is the Prime Minister's devoted lieutenant, retired IAS officer K Kailashnathan, 'KK', who was Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Modi from 2013 to 2014, and is now the Chief Principal Secretary to the fourth Gujarat Chief Minister (Modi, Anandiben, Rupani, Patel). KK was and is so trusted by PM Modi that he was missing from the posse of officers that PM-designate Modi brought with him to Delhi in 2014, since KK was pivotal in shoring up new Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's forces in the teeth of the brewing Patidar agitation. Tellingly, PM-designate Modi also ensured that another fiercely committed officer stayed back in the 'sentinel' post of Commissioner of Police, Surat. This gentleman was IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, who had first hit the headlines by deeming the 2002 Godhra train-burning incident a conspiracy.

KK's seventh extension in September may or may not be unprecedented in the annals of handpicked perpetual bureaucrats, but viewed in the context of the 'peaceful' mass toppling of the entire Gujarat Council of Ministers, it points to the efficient algorithm of governance being adopted in states by uber-trusted star bureaucrats. This is the face of federalism in the country now: Regent bureaucrat-rulers in state capitals who execute the Centre's agenda.

Consider one piece of evidence of the Regent-model available in Gujarat. While the formation of the new Gujarat government was book-ended by optics of caste, OBC, region, pockets of Index-of-Opposition-Weakness, the 'master stroke' lay elsewhere - in the educational qualifications of the 24 ministers in the new Gujarat Cabinet. Did this ensure the ministers' studied silence after portfolio distribution, since governance will anyhow happen via KK's blockchain of babus? What explains the following ministerial educational attainments?

Of the 24 new Gujarat ministers, three dropped out of school after Class 8, one minister left school in Class 4, four ministers dropped out after Class 10, and four ministers abandoned education after Class 12. Election data portal MyNeta shows that 50% of Gujarat's ministers are innocent of university education (notably, poverty and 'backwardness' are not highly correlated to educational qualifications).

Without invoking the Harvard vs Hard Work theory of performance, a few questions must be answered: in the BJP's 25-year power run in Gujarat, how did such a large proportion of its own political elite remain school drop-outs? With the obvious asymmetry in the stock of knowledge required to govern between several ministers and KK's bureaucrats, are the people's representatives "Yes, KK" men? And has the lack of education bred timidity and deference to the super-bureaucrat's might?

For answers, turn to the Punjab Cabinet, which was sworn in amidst sitcom twists, also on September 15. There were five mini-revolts with no-shows, walk-outs by a Chief Minisiterial hopeful and his loyalists, gherao of cars, mutual bad-mouthing by senior teenagers of the Punjab Congress, and repeated roll-backs of statements by the representatives of the High Command.

Through the intra-Congress feuds and the seismic blows inflicted on him, Chief Minister Channi (BA LLB) went about crafting his Council of Ministers doggedly, without intimidating his rivals or unleashing cancel culture. And displaying some deft political footwork, Channi also met PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the new NDA leader and sulking Congress ex-leader Amarinder Singh whose soulmate, Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, defines the new Congress leaders as "a pack of hyenas".

Now consider Channi's Council of Ministers, based on their official affidavits culled by MyNeta. Of the 14-member Council of Ministers in Punjab (after the resignation of Sidhu's loyalist Razia Sultan), 10 are graduates (including Science graduates or Law or Engineering degrees); and four ministers either left school after Class 10 or Class 8. Channi's Council of Ministers therefore has 70% graduates or above, and 30% who did not complete High School. Parenthetically, multi-millionaire Rana Gurjit Singh, whose appointment has been opposed by Sidhu, is amongst those who did not study beyond Class 10. In the Punjab Cabinet, where almost three-fourth are graduates or above, do we expect a more 'spineful' performance by ministers, or will a KK-equivalent call the shots in the evolving trend of centralized federalism in the country?

I posed this question to a Gujarat BJP MLA, who fought and won a difficult assembly election against a tough Congress candidate in 2017. His reply, "We are suffocating inside at the way our government was made to drown. We know that we don't have a right to our opinion. But many MLAs now line up to touch KK's feet, because he has a direct line to the PMO, and so to the PM. And since we want a BJP ticket for the '22 elections, we have gagged our mouth, and we have curved our spine to align it to KK's feet. That's the real Gujarat Model of Development for us."

(Nalini Singh is a senior TV journalist.)

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