Dr. Gyan Pathak

Approval by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the revised composition of India’s official think tank, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, on July 16, 2024, underscores beginning of a significant phase in the country’s future direction.

It also underlines his political compulsions of leading a coalition government, as well as his intentions to have his way. However, only time will tell how things turn out in the future.

PM Modi remains the Chairperson of the reconstituted NITI Aayog and Suman Bery its Vice President. There is no change in the four full-time members – V K Saraswat (a scientist), Prof Ramesh Chand (an agricultural economist), Dr V K Paul (a paediactrician) and Arvind Virmani (a macro-economist).

It signifies that the overall policy direction of the country will almost remain the same, with these top members of the think tank calling the shots.

In the newly reconstituted NITI Aayog there are four Ex-officio Members – Minister of Defence Raj Nath Singh, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Union Minister of Finance and Union Minister of Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman.

Barring Shivraj Singh Chouhan, all the three members have a proven record of loyalty towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chouhan is a replacement of Narendra Singh Tomar who served in the earlier team constituted in November 2022.

As for Shivraj Singh Chouhan is concerned there have been whispering in the power of corridor that he is a potential competitor of PM Modi. Chouhan is also a favourite of RSS top brass and also a very popular leader of Madhya Pradesh among the RSS and BJP rank and file.

He had been the longest serving (five time) chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and of Madhya Pradesh, even more than Narendra Modi remained chief minister in Gujarat.  It should also be noted that during the Vidhan Sabha Election 2023 in Madhya Pradesh, he was not made CM face of the BJP, rather the PM Modi made himself mascot of the party during the election.

Chouhan was given ticket from his traditional Budhni Vidhan Sabha constituency in BJP’s fourth list despite his being the serving chief minister. There were infightings in the party his detractors tried their best to get him defeated, but he ultimately won by a huge margin of 1,64,951 votes.

BJP had also swept the Vidhan Sabha Election 2024 in the state. He was not allowed to become chief minister of the state. He was then given BJP’s Lok Sabha ticket from Vidisha in its fist list of candidates in March 2024. It was seen as being keeping Chouhan out from Madhya Pradesh politics.

His detractors tried their best again to get him defeated but he won, and now in Delhi right under PM Narendra Modi. It is to be seen what impact he would bring in the thinking of the Modi government while working in the think tank and the ministries relating to agriculture, farmers and rural India, which had to witness several contentious issues, such as three controversial farm laws seeking to bring Corporate to the farms, in PM Narendra Modi’s second term.

He is an RSS favourite and there have been reports of rift between PM Narendra Modi and the RSS. His entrance as ex-officio member in the think tank is thus significant.

There are 11 special invitees in the newly constituted think tank. In the earlier team constituted in 2022, there were only 5 special invitees – Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Rao Inderjit Singh, Piyush Goyal, Dr Virendra Kumar, and Ashwini Vaishnaw. Expansion was obviously necessitated by political compulsions.

Retention of Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, and Dr Virendra Kumar, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment is significant, as special invitee shows the priority of PM Narendra Modi is most likely to remain the same as far as the ministries they look after are concerned.

Bringing BJP president J P Nadda, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers, as special invitee is a significant expansion. Jual Oram, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, and Annpurna Devi, Union Minister of Women and Child Development are also new special invitees from the BJP.

From BJP’s allies JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Minister of Steel; Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises; JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Union Minister of Panchayati Raj and Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; TDP leader Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Minister of Civil Aviation; and LJP (RV) leader Chirag Paswan, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries are also made special invitees.

The ally which did not find a place is Shiv Sena (Shinde) has become a sensitive issue in Maharashtra, the state going to election later this year. Shiv Sena (UBT) took potshots at its rival for exclusion.

However, it is to be seen how much say will have the members from BJP’s allies in the new NITI Aayog team, when PM Modi has signaled in the very reconstitution that there will be no scope of diversion in the major policies he has been pursuing.

NITI Aayog has said that purpose of the reconstitution is “embracing a vision for holistic development and innovation … on a journey of transformative initiatives that promise to redefine India’s future.