PM Modi chairs 'Super Cabinet' meeting after Pahalgam attack: Why it matters

PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting of crucial Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence on Wednesday. Widely considered as the most powerful among all cabinet committees, the CCPA is often dubbed as the ‘Super Cabinet’. Apart from CCPA, PM Modi today also chaired strategically important CCEA and CCS meetings in the wake of April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

The meetings come a day after another high-level meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister at his residence. In the meeting, which was attended by chiefs of all three armed forces, the PM granted ‘complete operational freedom’ to the troops to respond to the Baisaran Valley carnage that saw brutal killings of 26 men, mostly tourists.

Who are the members of CCPA?

The current Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and includes Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav.

Apart from the ruling party, Cabinet ministers from the allies are also part of the CCPA.

What are the functions of the ‘Super Cabinet’

• The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs takes decision on critically-important political as well as economic issues.
• The key function of the ‘Super Cabinet’ is to see the ties between states and the Central government. More so, on the occasions when there is a need for forming a consensus on an issue.
• The CCPA discusses and decides on matters pertaining to internal security and economics that may have some political fallouts.
• The CCPA also takes a look into inter-ministerial coordination.
• The CCPA also takes decisions on matters related to foreign policy that may have implications on country’s political structure.

The importance of the CCPA can be gauged from the fact that its last major meeting took place in February 2019 just after the Pulwama terror attack. Subsequently, India had carried out the Balakot airstrikes that had stunned Pakistan. Apart from key defence discussion, the 2019 CCPA meet had also decided to withdrawn MFN status granted to Pakistan.