Appointments and Dismissals

Appointments and Dismissals Nireekshak "THE purpose of the present expansion or reconstruction of the Central Cabinet", National Herald explained in a press note-like editorial, "is primarily to add to its strength, not only in numbers, while maintaining its sense of purpose and spirit of harmony". In case this was unlikely to have carried conviction with disgruntled MPs still fretting over their exclusion from the expanded Council of Ministers, the paper went on to add how difficult it was to manage the skills of such a vast army of MPs as there now was on the Government side. Further, "it is not the function of Parliament to govern". However, not to worry, for the Government still needed the "intellectual and moral resources" of Congress MPs "to carry out the pledges which were made to the people". And they could rest assured "there will be no lack of opportunities and no lack of recognition". Meanwhile, admonished the paper, let not Ministers "think that if they are discarded they could become governors." Editorials of this kind, written in the manner of an official handout explaining government's actions to its supporters and inviting their continued support in return for certain rewards at the end of the road, are something new in modern Indian journalism. Is the Herald going to pioneer the concept of the 'Government Press' in this country?