Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, is among the most thoughtful leaders of the country. Over the years, he has proven himself to be an efficient manager when it comes to handling complex situations. He has proved his efficiency and managerial skills on multiple occasions, and therefore, amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the Modi government should appoint him to the post of Health Minister.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Delhi based leader who is the current Health Minister of the country, lacks knowledge of the complexities of the supply chain and even managerial skills. And, the management of the Covid situation currently is more of a managerial task than a medical issue. Therefore the MBBS and MD degrees of Dr Harsh Vardhan are of no use when it comes to managing the resources at a time when India is witnessing its biggest public health crisis since independence.
On the other hand, Nitin Gadkari has years of experience in handling the complexity of the supply chain of the country, serving formerly as the Transport Minister of Maharashtra and currently as the Union Transport Minister. He has proved to be very efficient in managing public infrastructure building in the country in the last two decades despite the multi-dimensional problems that the sector faces, and he can easily solve the issues of vaccine distribution, oxygen distribution, and medical supplies.
Despite the availability of medical supplies in enough quantity, the patients are not able to get them in time due to the issues in the supply chain and black marketing, and the appointment of Gadkari as the Health Minister can help the country overcome these problems.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, on the other hand, has proved himself inefficient during the pandemic. During the last parliament session, he said that “everyone does not need a vaccine” in reply to a question by Supriya Sule, the leader of NCP. His complacency has reportedly cost the country a lot and it is time that Nitin Gadkari should replace him as the Union Health Minister.
Recently firebrand BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also said that Gadkari needs to be appointed as the Health Minister and when someone asked him why, Swamy replied, “Because dealing with COVID 19 needs an infrastructure framework in which aspect Gadkari has proved his ability”.
Recently Gadkari also warned the BJP leaders who are doing photo-ops when helping people, that this will neither benefit the party nor them. “Don’t do politics. Don’t put up hoardings or flags or publicise your work. If people sense political gimmickry, they won’t appreciate it from the heart. You, as well as the party will automatically get credit for your work. Because of the media, it reaches everyone. Don’t try to publicise the supply of one oxygen concentrator with four party workers. It will create a bad impression about you,” he said in a virtual interaction with party office bearers.
In the last few weeks, many BJP leaders including Anurag Singh Thakur and Tejaswi Surya did photo-ops while they helped the people, and this seems to be a warning by Gadkari to such leaders.
Gadkari would be an ideal candidate for the Health Minister to sail the country out of this pandemic and Prime Minister Modi should appoint him to the post as soon as possible.