Will it be smooth sailing or a bumpy ride ahead for Anandiben?

The new Gujarat chief minister’s no-nonsense attitude and being a tough taskmaster might rub the people up the wrong way, making things difficult for her, observes Arvind J Bosmia.

When Anandiben Patel was sworn in on Thursday as the first woman chief minister in Gujarat at Mahatma Gandhi Mandir in Gandhinagar, there were murmurs of dissent. According to sources, Narendra Modi’s choice of Patel as his successor hadn’t gone down too well with party members. Some say the close aide to Modi rubs people up the wrong way; some say she’s too tough, while some says she’s too hard on ministers and bureaucrats.

With her taking the helm in Gujarat, one can’t but wonder how the future will be for her. Will it be tough with bumps, or will it be smooth sailing?

Continuously a minister since 1995, Patel has been an outstanding performer. As the education and revenue minister, she introduced far-reaching changes. She made the science syllabus compatible with the Central Board of Secondary Education, allowing students to successfully crack the Indian Institutes of Technology common entrance test. Another major initiative was the crackdown on teachers’ absenteeism and poorly performing teachers in government schools. Her crackdown was severe that she became an object of visceral hate among the teachers’ union.

She lays such a heavy premium on rules and discipline that even Modi while welcoming her as his successor good humouredly said that her strict behaviour was good for everyone.

However, her tough disciplinarian mode won’t go down well with party workers and leaders, who often need political interference, for transfers, clearing files, for their constituents. It is said that when Anandiben was education minister, she had put up a board outside her office requesting visitors not to meet her for transfer issues.

And while the dissent is still in the form of hushed whispers, there are Bharatiya Janata Party workers who hope that the chair will transform Anandiben.

But despite her misgivings, Anandiben is likely to have a smooth run, as the entire party machinery and the legislative wing is under the control of Modi. There can be grumblings and discord but at the end of the day one has to fall in line.

Anandiben herself has moved cautiously in constituting her cabinet. Barring three, all other members of the outgoing ministry have been retained. The new ministry will be a seamless continuation of the previous Modi-led ministry.

And even though one can fault her for being too tough, there is a silver lining to her no-nonsense attitude. For instance, in 2004, a government engineering college in Saurashtra witnessed violent fights between students belonging to the Saurashtra group and Mehsana group. One such fight was so violent that a student lost vision in one eye. However, the student responsible for the attack was identified and the college had rusticated him for three years.

However, politicians of the Mehsana community, the group to which the boy belonged to, soon mounted pressure on the principal to revoke the punishment. But, Anandiben supported the principal, against the leaders of her own district and the boy had to endure the punishment.

This attitude of hers can tone up the administration even if it displeases her colleagues and party members.