Smriti Irani education row: JD (U) slams Cong's remarks

New Delhi: JD(U) today slammed the Congress for taking pot-shots at the Narendra Modi government over its remarks against HRD Minister Smriti Irani. “I condemn such a statement…The criticism of Irani over her educational degree must stop. Her work and not her educational qualification should be discussed. The pulse of the nation is not known only by formal education. I have also been an engineer but that engineering does not come to any use here. The country is run by understanding people,” JD(U) president Sharad Yadav told reporters here.

He was addressing the media after a meeting of the party office bearers to take stock of the crushing defeat of JD(U) in Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in which the party was reduced from its tally of 20 seats in 2009 to a mere two in 2014. Attacking Irani over her educational qualifications, Congress leader Ajay Maken had tweeted yesterday, “What a Cabinet of Modi? HRD Minister (Looking after Education) Smriti Irani is not even a graduate! Look at her affidavit at ECI site pg 11”. Responding to questions about the Congress attack on Irani, Yadav said, “Saint Kabir never went to any University but he was the greatest philosopher. For more than 60 years, the country has been run by the educated persons and it is for all of us to see, how it has been run.”

Yadav, however, slammed Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh, who yesterday stoked a controversy Article 370 seeking a debate on it. Singh, however, later clarified that he was “misquoted” on the issue. Unimpressed by the clarification, Yadav said nothing should be done on the issue against the precedent followed on this issue so far. “I strongly condemn what the minister has said on Article 370. Kashmir is the soul of the country. The statement is not appropriate and not in the interest of the nation. A promise was made to Kashmir,” Yadav said. Yadav was also in disagreement with the government’s decision to constitute a Special Investigative Team (SIT) headed by a former Supreme Court Judge to unearth black money.

Terming it as a “game” of politics, he said that such issues should directly be handled by the police as “a number of SIT and Commissions have been set up in past without bringing any results.” The meeting of JD (U) office bearers chaired by Yadav passed a resolution and vowed to continue its battle against communalism. Yadav said that both he and former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will visit different states in the country to galvanize the party. “We have already touched the ground. We cannot go below that. Either we rise from that or we are finished. But you should know that our party is borne out of struggle. There is rock solid unity in the party as well as in its Bihar unit,” Yadav said responding to a number of questions.

The meeting was attended by party general secretaries and ministers in Bihar government Shyam Razak and Bheem Singh Shyam Razak, Rajya Sabha MP KC Tyagi, Karnataka leader MP Nade Gowda, Javed Raza, Ashfaque Ahmed Khan and others. The meeting will review the performance of the party in Lok Sabha elections and deliberated on future plans of the party for upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana this year and Bihar and Jharkhand next year. Yadav, accompanied by party general secretary KC Tyagi also met Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in morning.

PTI