That Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a supremely gifted politician is unarguable. In the last week, since he won an unprecedented mandate to govern India, he has unleashed a potent new weapon from his political armoury. It's called the element of surprise. It might yet become his most powerful tool as he moves from campaign mode to the tough business of Government. He will use it to wrong-foot his foes and sometimes his friends. He will equally use it to win friends and allies when you least expect him to. Consider how Modi defied conventional wisdom by inviting the heads of all SAARC governments to his swearing-in. By inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he stunned and no doubt stunted (the power of) the hawks of the Sangh Parivar. By welcoming Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he snubbed his own allies in TamilNadu. Whichever way you look at it, he seized the initiative and drew a clean slate for his foreign policy in the neighbourhood when everyone else (including the leaderships of neighbouring countries) expected him to be hardline. There were surprises in store in Cabinet formation. For the first time, one in every four Cabinet ministers is a woman. And if reports are to be believed, some of the women in the council of ministers hold weighty portfolios like External Affairs (Sushma Swaraj), Human Resources Development (Smriti Irani) and Commerce (Nirmala Sitharaman). This isn't tokenism. And it is a surprise from a Prime Minister who has often been criticised for being patronising (rather than empowering) towards women. Add to that list, the appointment of Anandiben Patel as Chief Minister of Gujarat and the possible appointment of Sumitra Mahajan as Lok Sabha speaker and you see how Modi has quickly emerged as a champion of women's empowerment, pulling the carpet from under Rahul Gandhi's feet.
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