Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister shatters many glass ceilings, and not just because she's a woman

Some are calling it a “well-disguised doosra”. Some are calling it another “surgical strike”. Whichever way you look at it, handing the defence portfolio to Nirmala Sitharaman is by far the biggest statement delivered by Narendra Modi in Sunday’s Cabinet reshuffle.

By all means, this was a double promotion for Sitharaman, who until Saturday held the independent charge of the commerce and industry ministry. She was first elevated into Cabinet rank, and subsequently inducted into the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) by virtue of her appointment as the Union defence minister.

Sitharaman technically is the second woman to hold the defence portfolio, but for former prime minister Indira Gandhi, defence was an additional charge. Sitharaman is India’s first full-time woman defence minister, and the sound of the glass ceiling being shattered would reverberate for a long time to come. Nothing carries the message of women’s empowerment more than battle-hardened generals doffing their hats to a female boss. As far as symbolisms go, it is a powerful one.

As Sitharaman moves into Raisina Hill, the all powerful CCS, which also includes the prime minister, home minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Arun Jaitley and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, will now feature two women.

Among the many symbolisms that emerge, the first is that that the prime minister firmly believes in women leading from the front. This message is reinforced by the fact that Sitharaman, a first-time Rajya Sabha MP, takes over the defence portfolio at a time when India’s borders with Pakistan and China are ‘hot’ and we have only just emerged from a grave deadlock with the Chinese in Sikkim sector which could have very well slipped into a military conflict.

But it will be unwise to look at Sitharaman’s appointment only from the prism of women’s empowerment. In elevating her to the post, Modi has also indicated that he considers Sitharaman to be a good performer in a tough time for the Indian economy.

The 58-year-old’s tenure as MoS commerce was marked by an economy struggling to remain on feet after the twin blows of demonetisation and GST and an alarming dip in export figures. But she has earned accolades for showing tough negotiating skills at multilateral forums including World Trade Organisation, or for having the gumption to press China for a more level-playing field in trade and commerce even as the Chinese were breathing fire on the Doka La issue.

She copped a fair bit of criticism for India’s lackluster performance in exports, but as she told reporters on Sunday after taking oath as a Cabinet minister, “Every criticism is a message and we have to learn from it. I am not averse to criticism and also not frightened of it (criticism), but certainly take messages from them. Criticism per se do not reflect on performance, it only adds to your performance if you are ready to take on-board the corrections that may be workable.”

Sitharaman’s elevation also points to Arun Jaitley’s growing stature in the Modi Cabinet. Though it seems counter-intuitive to suggest so, the fact is that Jaitley, who had been expressing an unwillingness to extend his term as defence minister beyond a stop-gap arrangement, managed to get one of his protégés into the post. JNU alumni Sitharaman, who had little administrative experience when she was roped into commerce ministry at Jaitley’s behest in 2014, will benefit from her good equation with Jaitley as he prepares to quit from the post, which was thrust on him following Manohar Parrikar’s abrupt departure.

The new job is sure to test Sithraman’s mettle. India’s borders remain unstable due to the twin challenge of cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan and China’s irredentist behavior. She must also figure out a way to pull the bureaucracy out of stasis and modernise the military on a war-footing. Recent reports have pointed to an alarming culture of complacency in India’s defence ranks with the CAG indicating that the Army has barely enough stock of ammunition to last for 10 days. At a time when India is being forced to consider the prospect of a two-front war, these are crippling inabilities.

Finally, Sitharaman’s appointment is yet another pointer to the fact that journalists, who had grown accustomed to double as brokers in the corridors of power, have been thoroughly disempowered. It exemplifies the new normal in Indian politics where media speculation, in absence of credible information, has been reduced to the level of punting.