Twelve Indian ministers including the health chief resigned yesterday following a catastrophic surge in Covid-19 cases earlier this year.
The resignations form part of a major cabinet expansion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of seven state elections in 2022. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, 66, came in for particular criticism during the spike in infections in April and May.
The health service was under severe pressure in many areas with hospitals running out of beds, medical oxygen and drugs.
India’s official death toll has exploded from around 160,000 at the end of March to more than 400,000 now, the third-highest in the world.
But many experts suspect the figures are an undercount and the real number of dead could be several times higher.
Three dozen new faces have been inducted into the new Modi cabinet, taking the number of ministers to 77, up from 52.
More than a dozen ministers are from poll-bound states such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, representing different castes and regional communities, a dominant factor in India’s electoral politics.
Four members from Karnataka state were also added, including millionaire media mogul Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Shobha Karandlaje, a sectarian rabble-rouser politician.
Six other women ministers also found a place in the new cabinet. But the expansion has witnessed the shock exit of two key members from the Modi cabinet, including Ravi Shankar Prasad – minister for law and justice and information technology – and Prakash Javadekar, minister for information and broadcasting, environment and climate change.
Both Prasad, 66, and Javadekar, 70, were seen as faces of the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, with some press reports suggesting they would handle party work ahead of the key state elections.
Narendra Modi (file picture)
