One of the closest aides of Sonia Gandhi, Ambika Soni's induction into the Cabinet was seen as a reward for her loyalty. She succeeded in marketing ‘Incredible India’ well but controversies like the one over the Ram Sethu deflected her from real issues.
Her brief
Work towards making India an attractive global tourist destination; preserve ancient monuments and culture.
THE DELIVERIES
- Marketed ‘Incredible India’ well, leading to 12-14 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals. But India is nowhere near its target of attracting 10 million tourists in 2010.
- Took up issue of attacks on tourists with states and persuaded some to set up tourist police forces.
- Got World Heritage Site status for Red Fort and Kalka-Shimla Railway line.
Reforms derailed
- Plan to increase hotel accommodation is in a complete mess with India likely to fall short of about 15,000 hotel rooms for the Commonwealth Games.
- The Bed-and-Breakfast scheme was launched with fanfare but barely 1,000 rooms came up in the last three years.
- Tourism infrastructure continues to be in a mess.
- Cruise tourism, potentially a big foreign exchange earner, yet to take off.
- Cultural institutions continue to be treated as personal fiefdoms.
- Controversies like those over Centre’s affidavit to the Supreme Court in the Sethusamudram case wasted the ministry’s time and demoralised officers.
Opportunities blown
The 2010 Commonwealth Games was her big chance to push through her agenda. She did try but had very limited success—like the tax-breaks she extracted for new hotels in NCR.
Low Point
When she was almost sacked in the wake of the Sethusamudram row.
WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?
“We will use images of long queues of people waiting to cast their votes in J&K to counter the horrific images of Mumbai attacks.”
VIEW FROM THE SHADOW
“What has she done in the last five years? She has politicised the cultural arena. The tourist infrastructure is in a shambles, the nation is not considered a safe destination.” —Ananth Kumar, former culture minister in NDA
Did she get your vote?
Soni is a Rajya Sabha member.