New Delhi: In her earlier avatar as HRD minster, Smriti Irani had put the Modi government on a collision course with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. And on Friday she returned to the subject by suggesting Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone and the students she appeared alongside with on campus in support of those recently beaten by masked assailants were out to destroy India.

Irani’s stint as education minister produced the phrase ‘tukde tukde gang’ based on the as-yet-unproven charge that key student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar – who were arrested and charged with sedition – had called for the break-up of India.

Four years on, Irani recycled the ‘tukde tukde’ phrase to take a swipe at Padukone, whose presence at a solidarity meeting on January 7 that was addressed by Kanhaiya and others has triggered not just praise for the actor but a huge outpouring of support for the university’s students.

At an event in Chennai, Irani, who is now Union textiles minister said that Padukone’s support for the Congress party – which she claimed she had made apparent in 2011 – had been known all along and that “anybody who has read the news” knew who she would support.

Irani was ostensibly referring to the political polarisation which has taken place over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the prospect of a nationwide National Register of Citizens which is pitting students, Muslims, Dalits, people in the North-East and elsewhere and activists of various backgrounds, against the government, the BJP and its supporters.

While the CAA-NRC has triggered protests across the country, the attack by masked rightwing activists at JNU on January 5 took place in reaction to the movement against the hike in the university’s hostel fees. However, protests against the JNU attack have now been subsumed by the larger movement against the CAA-NRC, which received a big fillip when the Bollywood actor visited JNU.

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Padukone has since been on the receiving end of severe criticism from BJP eaders, who have even called for a boycott of her new film, Chhapaak. A 2011 interview of Padukone’s has also been circulated, where she is reportedly heard saying that her choice for the prime ministerial candidate is Rahul Gandhi.

“She made her political affiliation known in 2011 that she supports the Congress party. If people are surprised by this, it is because they didn’t know. There were a lot of admirers of hers who have just discovered her position,” she was quoted by The New Indian Express as having said. Irani had made the comments at an event organised by the newspaper.

“It’s her right (to) stand next to people who say Bharat tere tukde honge,” the Union minister was quoted by NDTV as having further added.

This was not her only criticism of the JNU ilk.

“She sided with people who hit girls on their private parts with lathis. I can’t deny her that right,” she said, also adding that Padukone had voiced support for people who “celebrate when a CRPF jawan is killed” and who “supported a terrorist.”

By the latter, Irani was ostensibly referring to Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013, for his involvement in the 2001 parliament attack. An event held at JNU in 2016 on the anniversary of Afzal Guru’s execution kickstarted the Centre’s involvement in the university, by pushing youth leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others into a legal quagmire complete with sedition charges based on a doctored video and also opening the narrative of its students being ‘anti-national’. The police attack on JNU had taken place during Irani’s regime as HRD minister.

Irani is not the only politician of the BJP to criticise Deepika, but she is the highest ranking. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar however, struck a different note, saying it was an artiste’s right to join any protest.

In the aftermath of the JNU attack, Irani had said on Monday that she hoped that students would not be used as political tools.

“I had said it earlier and reiterating it now that educational institutions should not be made rajiniti ka akhada (political battlefield) as it affects the life and progress of our students,” Irani told reporters, adding that she would not like to comment on matters undergoing probe.