A colossal security failure has allowed the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to reach for the broom and do what he has wanted to do for a long time. This is not the sacking of Shivraj Patil as home minister, but the removal of P. Chidambaram from the finance ministry. If the incompetence of Mr Patil has been apparent to all and sundry — the attack on Mumbai exposed it even more and to the world — the inability of Mr Chidambaram to handle the economic crisis, which is as serious as the security one, has been clear only to those who comprehend the complexities of the economic process currently unfolding. Mr Singh has thus removed two ministers in one crisis. It shows that Mr Singh, even in this last lap of his present stint as prime minister, is learning the art of politics. Both these changes were waiting to happen, but it would be a mistake to place Mr Patil and Mr Chidambaram in the same bracket. The former was good at nothing, and after the bungling of the war on Mumbai, nobody could save him, not even someone residing in a famous avenue in Lutyen’s Delhi. Mr Chidambaram, on the other hand, was a misfit in the finance ministry. His arrogance and his refusal to take advice from economists made him a liability at a time of a global meltdown. He will probably do a good job beefing up the home ministry and the country’s security.

For the nonce, the crucial ministry of finance rests with the best finance minister India ever had. But unfortunately he is also now the prime minister of India. It is not humanly possible for Mr Singh to look after the finance portfolio over and above the responsibilities of the country’s top job. He will have to delegate the job of looking after the economy of the country to someone, and there are no prizes for guessing who he will choose. Montek Singh Ahluwalia has worked closely with Mr Singh since the days when the latter was finance minister. He is the obvious choice. Mr Singh should not dither, and actually induct Mr Ahluwalia — who already holds cabinet rank as the deputy chairman of the planning commission — as a minister.

Like Mr Patil, there are other ministers in Mr Singh’s government who are not only non-performers but have also brought disrepute to his government. Now that Mr Singh has finally taken up the broom, he should clean his stable. He may discover that it is not such a Herculean task.