If there is one minister who is being targeted by media it is Smriti Irani. She is being simultaneously vilified as an intellectual lightweight, an RSS plant, a Modi favourite, an Ambani agent and worse. But why this special hate for Irani? Here I explain why Irani is facing a combined onslaught from almost all sections opposed to the BJP.

Academic credentials and astrologer controversy

Suffice to say that Irani had cleared the air on her degree from Yale almost immediately. Her words were torn and twisted and she was harangued as a liar. She is being portrayed as a bimbo who has been airlifted into a high profile ministry with little administrative experience and lack of a typical Oxbridge education. In fact, this clubbed with her previous stint as a model and actress in television soaps (shown as regressive by intellectuals) has made her an object of ridicule. Derisive comments on her past by paragons of liberalism are common.

The latest photograph of her consulting an astrologer has added to her image. Almost all politicians consult astrologers. It is a reality and flippant comments about an HRD minister believing in mumbo jumbo don’t wash. This is because paramount rationalist and secular-e-hind Shri Arjun Singh himself was a big believer in astrology. Previous HRD minister Kapil Sibal too was associated with PV Narasimha Rao’s astrologer NK Sharma. Not too many comments by media personalities then! It is obvious standards are different for BJP ministers and Congress ones!

Gandhi plot

Most in the media are closet Gandhi family sympathisers. Not only are they feudal in thinking but also dependent on the crumbs the family has thrown at them in the past. Some are also enamoured by their star power just as many of us get star struck when we meet famous Bollywood actors. (I confess to meeting Govinda in a lift once and not being able to muster the courage to ask him for an autograph. Indeed I was almost bowing!)

Smriti Irani waged a spirited battle in Amethi and almost tripped Rahul Gandhi. Since her loss she has adopted Amethi and has been nursing the constituency showing her seriousness in sticking to the area. She would be a made-for-TV opponent to Priyanka Vadra should she launch herself in the next elections. This has quite obviously rattled the Gandhi family and therefore, Irani is bearing the brunt of covert opposition attacks. The Gandhi family has ordered surreptitious hit jobs on her since any direct attack on her will be charged as motivated.

For example, there were some journalists and media commentators who were poking fun at her for distributing 12,000 sarees in Amethi. First, almost all MPs distribute such gifts in their seats. Second, compare and contrast her saree distribution programme with that of Azam Khan. Third, it is my contention that had Priyanka Gandhi distributed such gifts there would have been adulatory by-lines on “Didi giving return gifts” etc.

Hitjob through innuendo

In the Lok Sabha campaign Modi made his brother-sister relationship with Irani known in public. She too made no bones about the fact that she was grateful he had given her a second chance to prove herself. Malicious voices in the media started disgusting rumours regarding their pure relationship. People who claim to be liberal in public showed themselves up when they question how a man and a woman cannot work closely together without any illicit relationship.

The cat was set in the pigeons by Modi hater turned fan turned cautious critic Mrs. Madhu Kishwar, when she alleged the worst of relations between the Prime Minister and Irani. It has been quite obvious to many of us that Kishwar has some deep personal grudge against Irani and as has been proven by her frequent ejaculations – Kishwar made the allegation in an unstable frame of mind.

However, this was a signal to more mainstream critics to taint by rumour. Almost all female politicians have had to face such dirty tricks. So there is nothing new in the manner in which such a campaign is being conducted against Irani. What is repulsive however is that Irani has a family who too are affected, unlike many other successful women politicians, and the fact that the Prime Minister’s personal life has been above reproach in such matters.

Left-liberal and media caucus

The HRD ministry is of special interest to media people and their close friends in the academic world. This is because most of them are either related to each other or developed friendships and bonds in college and university days as media persons and academicians tend to be the intellectual ones in colleges. They are dependent on HRD ministry for their sinecures and retirement postings. Visiting faculty appointments, tenures, VC ships, scholarships etc. can be directly influenced by the HRD ministry. Most importantly, future minds can be altered through education.

So it is clear anyone appointed, as HRD minister would have been vilified almost immediately. The RSS is trying to correct the anti-Hindu, anti-nationalist literature that is passed of as intellectual output in our education system. For BJP, governance is not just about grabbing power but about shaping India. Education is central to this effort. Irani is a casualty of this tug of war between the nationalists and left-liberal caucus.

Proof of media’s over focus is the countless columns on fringe elements like Dinanath Batra and on PM’s comments in jest about plastic surgery. More serious is the effort to paint Sanskrit as a communal out-dated language. Equally serious is the exertion in defending the discretionary imposition of German as a third language rather than a more practical foreign language like Spanish, Mandarin or even Japanese.

Contentious Issues

The HRD ministry deals with contentious issues like language policy, education programmes, universities etc. These are closely debated and hotly contested by state governments, students, bureaucrats, and political parties and last but not the least – parents. These issues are so divisive that no national consensus has emerged on even one of these issues in the last 60 years. An HRD minister tries to keep these issues on the back burner and takes decisions on less contentious policies while, hoping that these issues will get resolved by market forces. Unfortunately, with a hostile media Irani has not had such luck.

Consequently, everything she has done is marked by controversy and the media too rakes up hot issues to put her on the back foot. A whisper campaign has started across staff rooms and corridors of educational institutes that she is not up to it. The successful implementation of the PM’s talk on Teachers Day too has rattled leftists who fear an entire generation with little reverence for Nehru and Indira Gandhi and the name of Modi on its lips will come up.

Add to this the heavy presence of left-friendly bureaucracy in the ministry and we know why almost all decisions are leaked before hand. It will take time to clean up the ministry from vested interests who are not implementing the government’s programmes faithfully. For more information on how media is selectively playing up controversies please read articles by PT Kartikeya Tanna’s who has emerged as a truth-o-meter on all matters contentious.

Cabinet infighting

As a loyal supporter I hesitate to bring this up but as Atal ji had said “Kinchit nahin bhaybhit main, Kartavya path par jo bhi mile, Yeh bhi sahi woh bhi sahi”. Smriti Irani’s rise in politics has been virtually vertical. This has obviously created many rivals within the party who want to pull her down. Moreover, a weighty ministry to a first time MP has rankled many who fear she could become the senior most woman leader in the party. However, I am less concerned about this because Modi is known for his no-nonsense approach to infighting. A necessary condition to be on Team Modi is willingness to work in a team.

To conclude it is now clear why Smriti Irani is being targeted. This blog is for those right wing supporters who were wavering in their support to her. Hopefully, it will now be clear why she is the victim of a plot rather than any inefficiency on her own.