“The office of the Prime Minister is what the holder not only decides it to be but is also able to convert it into” – Harold Wilson, Former Prime Minister of Great Britain

If Wilson’s statement underlines significance of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imbibed it completely. This exalted office has never been so powerful. The process that started in 2014 is complete now.

Modi has retained his top aides for a further period of five years – investing three of them with Cabinet rank - National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra and Additional Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra.

The Cabinet rank doesn’t give them additional power or entitlements but this was apparently required to maintain a balance in the bureaucratic hierarchy after former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar was made Minister for External Affairs, a Cabinet Minister. A 1974-batch officer, Jaishankar is junior to all three — Doval is a 1968-batch retired IPS officer, and both Nripendra Misra and PK Mishra are retired IAS officers from the 1967 and 1972 batches, respectively.

Before getting a cabinet rank, their position was equivalent to a Minister of State. The government did not want a situation where Doval or Misra may have to report to a junior. Doval looks after a part of the foreign ministry as well - having significant say in the affairs of neighbouring countries. They’re all equal now. Not much will change as far as work is concerned. Getting a cabinet rank also entitles the three bureaucrats to attend all cabinet meetings.

The reason

The Prime Minister apparently trusts only a handful people. He hand-picked his close aides during his first term on two considerations. Officials whom he knew closely from Gujarat and those who had worked in the Vivekananda International Foundation, an organisation founded by Doval and run by RSS sympathisers.

Only a few outsiders were inducted into the PMO and they too were the ones recommended by his trusted lieutenants like Amit Shah.

The mistrust runs so deep that even his senior ministerial colleagues like Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh found it difficult to get the officials of their choice And often bureaucrats from their ministry were transferred out and they learnt of the development from the media or from third parties.