These days information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad does not look uncertain as he did some months back when he was allocated the I&B ministry portfolio that, in political circles, is considered a graveyard for the best of ministers. Even Sushma Swaraj, considered a strong woman within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, could not survive here long despite her stranglehold and `achievements.'
But there is a newfound aggressiveness that Prasad is flaunting these days, which is sending out just one message: he and the government mean business. As he thundered to a question on opposition to his pet subject at the moment, CAS, "I would not get cowed down. I cannot be cowed down." It is another thing that this lawyer-turned-politician is also drawing power from the backing that he has got from the Prime Minister and the deputy Prime Minister. His critics, of course, describe his zeal for CAS a result of being cautioned by the Prime Minister to ensure that the electorates are not alienated in the government's bid to bring in some change. There is no denying that political pressure has mounted and Prasad has to see the rough edges in CAS are smoothened out, and quickly, before the bushfire of criticism spreads.
In this interview with indiantelevision.com's Anjan Mitra, Prasad gamely takes on questions, mostly on CAS, even as he says that his wife keeps on advising him that in this world there are other things too, besides CAS. Excerpts from an interview given recently after Prasad, along with some high-ranking officials from his ministry, returned from a tour of Thailand and the UK where he also spent time at the BBC office and visited BSkyB's facility.