Inside Modi’s decision to ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resign | Powertrip #158

Welcome to this week’s Powertrip, a political newsletter curated exclusively for subscribers of The News Minute and Newslaundry. This week’s edition is by Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna and Shabbir Ahmed.In this week’s edition, we found out what made the Modi government back down and ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resign.Among media houses, why did Republic remain unapologetically pro-government and anti-protest? What was the newsroom strategy? MDMK chief Vaiko had grand plans of bringing together Rahul Gandhi and Tamil Nadu CM Vijay on the same stage. Why did he fail?Powertrip is a newsletter that senior political reporters of TNM put together every week. For those who can’t access the full newsletter, get a subscription and read every Tuesday..Inside the decision to ask Dharmendra Pradhan to resignWhat made the Modi government take the unusual decision of asking Dharmendra Pradhan to resign?According to sources, the turning point came after intelligence inputs suggested the protests were unlikely to lose steam on their own. Instead, officials were warned that the agitation could become more volatile the longer it dragged on.The reports also indicated that there would be an increased pushback from the protestors against the violence from the police and armed forces. Rather than weakening the protests, the violence risked eroding support within sections of the BJP’s own base.There was another concern. Sources said intelligence agencies flagged the possibility of physical retaliation against members of the armed forces in response to the violent methods of crowd control like lathi charge, tear gas, and water cannon. Such a development, officials believed, could have further damaged the government’s image and made the crisis significantly harder to contain.Against that backdrop, Pradhan was asked to step down.Sources said he was assured that the resignation would not diminish his standing within either the BJP or the government. Instead, he was told he would be accommodated in a new role after the impending Cabinet reshuffle, alongside an organisational reshuffle within the BJP expected over the coming weeks.The hero’s welcome Pradhan received from BJP MPs in Parliament was also part of that messaging, sources said. The objective was to signal that his stature within the party and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains intact, and that his exit should not be interpreted as a political defeat.For now, Prahlad Joshi has been brought in as a stopgap arrangement. A full-time replacement is expected to be named after the wider Cabinet reshuffle.The Republic newsroom ‘strategy’ as protests ragedAs reporters from various channels labelled “godi media” by protesters were booed at Jantar Mantar and demonstration sites across the country, what was happening inside the newsrooms?At Republic TV, sources described an editorial approach that left little room for debate.One employee told us that Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami decided early on that the network would take a firmly pro-government line. According to the employee, once that editorial position was set, there was no discussion about changing course despite the scale of the protests.The reasoning, sources said, was straightforward. Goswami believed the movement did not enjoy broad support among young people and that the most visible voices on social media represented only a vocal minority. From that perspective, there was little reason to recalibrate coverage to reflect what was seen as a limited constituency.Several reporters told us they were nevertheless uneasy about being deployed to protest sites because of the hostility they encountered.“It isn’t the first time we’ve faced anger from protesters, but we’ve never seen it at this scale before,” one reporter said. “That said, refusing to report from the ground isn’t really an option.”There was also a larger editorial calculation at play.According to employees, Goswami believed that while some rival channels had partially moderated their coverage by giving greater space to the protesters’ arguments, Republic had an opportunity to distinguish itself by taking an unapologetically pro-government and anti-protest position.The strategy, sources said, was aimed at consolidating the network’s core right-wing audience while setting it apart from competitors. With television ratings suspended for months, there was little immediate pressure to chase viewership numbers. Instead, the focus was on reinforcing Republic’s identity among its core viewers, even if it meant standing apart from the rest of the television news industry.Vaiko’s plan for Rahul-Vijay political optics failsMDMK chief and firebrand politician Vaiko’s attempt to take a lead in national politics by bringing Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay together on the stage in Delhi failed miserably, as Vijay cancelled his visit to the national capital.Vaiko’s book, titled ‘Vaiko in Parliament’, comprising four volumes of his speeches in both Houses of Parliament, was scheduled to be released at the Constitution Club in Delhi on August 4.Initially, the book was supposed to be launched by Rahul Gandhi and received by Vijay. But the event was planned as more than a book launch. It was aimed at projecting the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on the national stage – with Vaiko hoping to claim credit.Though Rahul Gandhi attended Vijay’s swearing-in ceremony, the optics of both leaders sharing the stage in the national capital would have sent a different political message. However, Vaiko’s plans did not work out as expected.There were four reasons for Vijay cancelling his participation in the event. First, the timing; his visit would come after the student protests witnessed across India over alleged irregularities in NEET, led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP). Second, the Constitution Club has a capacity of only around 700 people, which was not considered advisable from a security point of view, and third was the upcoming state budget.Another reason was political. TVK does not want to jump the gun or be seen publicly with Congress leaders at the national level, despite serious attempts being made to forge a national alliance and bring Rahul and Vijay together on a single platform.The Chief Minister was advised not to attend the event for now, and accordingly, his visit was cancelled. The decision was also conveyed to Vaiko, who later attempted to save face by claiming that Vijay had cancelled his visit due to difficulty in crowd control.Separately, a section of Congress leaders is pressuring Rahul Gandhi not to attend the event, as Vaiko is one of the staunch supporters of the LTTE, which killed Rajiv Gandhi. 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