Babus, RSS, BJP: One-time Modi favourite Smriti Irani is angering everyone

The babus are upset, the RSS is seething and the BJP isn’t in any mood to defend her. Smriti Irani, once seen as a favourite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being given the charge of the Human Resource Development ministry may be on her way out or at least see her wings clipped, if the latest issue of the Outlook is to be believed. Irani is on the cover of this week’s edition of the magazine. She has been accused of rubbing colleagues in the BJP up the wrong way, failing to understand the RSS’s demands when it comes to the education sector and being unable to retain key administrative officials in the ministry. Irani’s tenure hasn’t lacked for controversy. Among the controversies surrounding Irani are her educational qualifications, the decision to celebrate ‘good governance day’ instead of Christmas day in CBSE schools, respected nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar threatening to quit from the board of IIT-B directors and dropping German as a third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas. [caption id=“attachment_2194513” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Is Irani headed out? PTI image[/caption] But none of these seem to have tempered the manner in which she deals with her ministry and the job at hand. Reportedly wary and distrustful of bureaucrats, Irani has reportedly been known to humiliate and put them down in ways that have resulted in more than one of them seeking transfers. So while a vice chancellor of a central university is quoted as saying those trying to suggest ideas to Irani could be told “this is not your classroom, this is my ministry”, a senior ministry official speaks about how she flung a file at additional secretary-rank official only to apologise later, and promise to ‘restore his honour’. An earlier India Today article had also reported that Irani had once told a top official that although she had less education, she had more brains than him, accused another of selling the sovereignty of the nation and told an official at a meeting of an academic body ‘I am the council’. Not surprisingly the official who reportedly had a file thrown at him reportedly preferred to opt for a transfer rather than have his honour restored, and other bureaucrats have been cited as wanting to be repatriated rather than continue to have to deal with her. But despite bragging of long standing third generation ties with the RSS, the organisation reportedly has no love lost for her and they believe she will be out of her position “very soon”. Apart from believing that she doesn’t really understand the workings of the ministry or their concerns, the RSS is not very happy with the manner in which Kakodkar was treated and believe she’s “rude, oppressive and bossy”. They have reportedly taken their concerns to the Prime Minister and party president Amit Shah. However, there’s unlikely too much sympathy coming from Shah either given the minister reportedly said that she had been excluded from the party’s national executive because the Prime Minister was out of town. Irani, whose prime weapon against all opponents so far has been the fact that she enjoys the Prime Minister’s confidence may now have the scales tipped against her. According to the Outlook piece by Saba Naqvi, the BJP has its own problems with the minister. Senior leaders are unhappy with the manner in which she has been treating senior leadership, including not standing to greet Rajnath Singh, not responding to requests for appointments and making people who do meet her feel “uncomfortable”. One woman BJP leader said that when Irani was the subject of a sexist barb from JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav they would have ordinarily commiserated and rallied around her. “But the problem is that she does not seem to like most of us, so some of us would not dare to commiserate with her,” the leader said. For her part, Irani has responded to the Outook cover story in a tweet:

Irrespective of whether she finds herself censured by the prime minister or not as predicted, it remains to be seen whether the assessment of Irani improves for the better in the coming days. “If my work revolves around what kind of publicity I will get, then I will not be a constructive minister,” she told India Today in December. The government will be hoping she can live up to those words. (You can read the three Outlook articles here, here and here)