Express news service By

NEW DELHI: HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday took on her detractors in the wake of her latest Twitter row with Bihar education minister Ashok Choudhury, saying she does not subscribe to conventional wisdom that women should not question when provoked.

Seeking to silence her critics, Irani listed a slew of initiatives executed by her, asserting she was not the one who could be cowed down and that “successful women always tell you that they continue to crack the whip”.

Irani said politics happened (to her) not when she was a ‘fading star’ or ‘unemployed’ but when she was at the ‘peak of success.’ In a Facebook post, which she signed off as “Aunty National” — referring to a newspaper headline — Irani talked of her challenges and hit out at ‘intellectuals’.

“You represent your Nation in the International Parliamentary Union, get unanimously elected to represent Asia-Pacific region,become part of the drafting committee on the Syrian crisis and yet some ‘intellectual’ says ‘anpad’ the minute you are given the opportunity to serve as HRD Minister,” she said.

“Growing up in a middle class environment (Lutyen’s zone excluded), many girls... are told if accosted by a boy or a bunch of them, don’t look up..but there would be those rebellious kinds (yours truly included) who would question,” she said.