How an actress who has faced the biggest of television cameras of all sizes and shapes could get so rattled by a pinhole CCTV eye, we will never know. Nor why she raised such a shindig in a BJP-ruled state, exactly when the party natio­nal executive was deliberating more important issues. But the Goa incident shows how quickly Smriti Irani has squandered away the goodwill in her 10 months as helmswoman of a most crucial ministry: human resources development.

Make no mistake, HRD was one of the super-ministries when it was created in mid-80s by Rajiv Gandhi, with education, women and child development, and even culture under its umbrella. In the past, political heavyweights, some even contenders for the PM’s post, have been in charge of it: P.V. Narasimha Rao was Rajiv’s HRD minister; Arjun Singh was PVN’s; Murli Manohar Joshi for Atal Behari Vajpayee.

So, when Smriti was made HRD minister, despite losing in the 2014 election (the only other loser to be so accommodated in the Modi sarkar was Arun Jaitley), it raised serious eyebrows and...