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Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published in 2015.)
About a week ago, I received a text on my phone from a Delhi-based BJP MP which made me extremely uncomfortable. Propriety demands that the MP not be named, but I think I can take the liberty of sharing his text which said "Our Bhabhiji looks to be in trouble, saviour will have a tough time saving her on return." Bhabhiji refers to Smriti Irani in the most sexist and derogatory way.
I have been a critic of Smriti Irani myself, and
wrote a column on this very platform asking her to act like a youth leader and not cater to regressive policies as an HRD minister. Having said that, the recent statements made against Smriti, whether in columns, news articles, on Twitter and other social media, as also the disclosure of snide off-the-record conversations, have compelled me to write this piece. Why is Smriti Irani being judged for being an ex-actress, for being a woman sporting a bindi and sarees, for complaining about a changing room in Goa? Why are politicians and journalists talking of her elevation to the top job only by virtue of seemingly being close to men in power?
Smriti has won her election, is the youngest Education Minister, has picked tough battles. Slam her for her policies if you disagree with them, if you want a fair battle.
As a female political reporter who has been subject to some of the most sexist comments, I am outraged that a woman whose commitment to her party has been unquestionable is being subject to the most distressful misogynist attack amid the controversy over a group of parliamentarians who have written to the President about Smriti Irani, accusing her of damaging IITs and other educational institutions at the behest of the Sangh Parivaar.
Yes, Irani has erred in the past, whether over the statement about having a degree from Yale, or cowing to RSS diktats vis-a-vis the syllabus for schools. But frame the complaints against her in legitimate debate over her work, not her gender. There is a long list of ministers from the present government who have made extremely distasteful comments and take their orders from Nagpur. Why is it that neither what their wear nor their earlier professional qualifications are dissected with the same voyeuristic pleasure?
Why is it that we need to know that Smriti Irani was good friends with BJP powerhouse Pramod Mahajan in a recent magazine cover story on her, or is presently in the good books of Narendra Modi? What does that suggest about our own thought process? Why is the assumption that the men have allowed her political growth? Why is it that on assuming charge as HRD minister, pictures of her swim suit round at the Miss India pageant in 1998 were displayed by some news channels? Did we do the same for our male MPs from the film industry when they assumed charge?
To be a minister from a party like the BJP which receives its ideological support from the RSS, whose stand on women is not exactly progressive, one can only understand the pressure that Irani is under, given her previous profession. I remember meeting a very senior RSS leader at a cafe in Khan Market in June and asking why were certain leaders being given such hefty designations, to which the immediate retort was, "I don't know which leaders are you talking about, but as far as Smriti Irani is concerned, she was handpicked by the PM. Go ask him."
Last week, when Smriti complained about peeping toms at Fabindia, a political columnist wrote why she was shopping at the Fabindia in Goa and not Delhi. Another female leader suggested that she could smell a rat in this accusation. Really? Is that how low we have decided to stoop?
This and many such statements, not just from her own colleagues in the BJP but also across the party spectrum, has unnerved me.
And for those who call her a woman who has had it 'easy' in the party, let me share an anecdote.
At the party's important Goa conclave in June 2013, I was one of the few journalists who had been given event access inside the hotel, and was watching the flurry of activity with two other senior news editors. While most leaders were busy texting journalists about the proceedings inside, there was Smriti Irani who decided to be low profile, going about her work - from speaking to the pandal walas to the local Goa BJP leaders, ensuring that there was no bad blood at the local level and the event went smoothly. The easier thing for her would have been on TV all day or have off-record chats with leaders and journalists. I am pretty sure that there are many other leaders in the BJP who do similar work, but this characteristic has yet to be mentioned in the context of the diatribe against her.
As a journalist who has reported extensively from Maharshtra and Gujarat, I can vouch for Smriti's dedication to politics and to her party.
I don't expect there to be a course correction in this discourse on her beset with misogyny. But I suppose there is some satisfaction - however slight - in remembering that despite the most sexist attacks on the personal lives of Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee, these women continue to remain formidable and influential public figures, shaping their parties every day.
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