PM Modi tells new ministers to be cautious while making public statements

A day after the Cabinet expansion, newly-appointed ministers in the NDA government took charge of their portfolios and hit the ground running with specific direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get acquainted with their respective ministries before the Parliament Session.

The ministers have been asked to stay put in the national capital and resist the temptation of rushing to their respective constituencies for felicitation events.

“We have been asked to get briefings from officials and prepare for the Parliament Session that begins from July 19,” a newly-appointed minister said.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament begins on July 19 and will continue till August 13.

Performance has been the key criteria for the selection of ministers and the prime minister is learnt to have conveyed to his council to focus on implementing the government’s programs and initiatives.

The prime minister stressed India's fight against the pandemic is under way with full vigour with the vaccination programme going on steadily and testing numbers also consistently high.

Modi told the ministers that the aim should not be to instill fear but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that the nation is able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come. In the meeting, he expressed concern at the persistently high number of Covid cases coming from Maharashtra and Kerala, the sources said.

He also asked his ministers to reach office on time and channelise all their energy into their ministerial work, saying their focus should be on helping the most deprived people.

In a word of advice, he said it is the work that only matters and the ministers should not get trapped in the vicious circle of grabbing media attention.

He said ministers should avoid making unnecessary statements.

Ministers take charge

Several ministers such as Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took charge of their new portfolios and held meetings with senior officials.

Vaishnaw, who is also the minister of Electronics, IT, and Communications, sent out an unambiguous message to social media companies that the “law of the land was supreme”

“The law of the land should be abided by everyone,” Vaishnaw told reporters when asked about Twitter’s refusal to appoint – chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer as mandated by the new IT Rules.

Also read: Caste, gender, economy: Is PM Modi's new team a reflection of 'sabka saath' motto?

Newly appointed Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State Bharti Pawar too got into action with briefings on the Covid-19 situation. Later, the Union Cabinet approved the India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package: Phase-II amounting to Rs 23,123 crore to beef up healthcare facilities in the country.

The newly appointed ministers gave assurances about meeting the expectations of the people and measuring up to the confidence shown in them by the Prime Minister and senior leaders of the government and the party.

(With agency inputs)