In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ordered way of doing things, Manohar Parrikar was ordained to accomplish several radical makeovers in the Defence Ministry. Plucked from the obscurity of the politically lightweight state of Goa, the IIT graduate was brought to Delhi to wipe off the sloth and sleaze that had supposedly accumulated in the Defence Ministry during AK Antony’s stewardship. There was the question of uplifting the soldier’s morale that had been dented because of the UPA Government’s pusillanimity; speeding up purchases held up because of Antony’s indecisiveness; rearranging the higher defence management; and of course ensuring that all major weapon systems are manufactured in India. It seemed that all Parrikar had to do was to come up with approach papers and in Modi’s linear world of instant solutions, implementation could start straight away.Now that Parrikar has returned to the more familiar world of Goa, were his two years in the Defence Ministry well spent? Parrikar did accomplish the larger political purpose of equating the armed forces with the BJP’s concept of nationalism. So the Army’s surgical strike was tom-tommed all over the country, especially in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, as the ruling party’s Brahmastra to violence emanating from unresolved political questions. Any grievance against public policy was shouted down by comparing the soldier’s perseverance and sense of loyalty against all odds with the citizen’s inability to take an inconvenience in his stride.But in his Ministry, Parrikar will earn a C grade with the remarks, “showed sincerity but needed to apply himself to the job.” Indeed murmurs from the Defence Ministry all through his tenure were about Parrikar readily forsaking the perseverance required for the job for the joys of settling petty political squabbles in Goa. Was it any wonder that all through his tenure, the Ministry fell short in purchasing equipment? The suicide rate is again in the worrying range and a radical rearranging of defence management awaits another minister. Modi might have won a resounding victory in UP, but a mid-term evaluation of the Defence Ministry would indicate it has been all sound and very little actual work.