Smriti Irani’s victory in Amethi in 2019 was an epoch-making event in the history of Indian politics. She managed to do what many stalwarts of Indian public life (such as Kanshi Ram, Rajmohan Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Sharad Yadav) could not.
Indeed, due to the BJP’s emphatic win both in 2014 and 2019, spearheaded by PM Narendra Modi, the Congress’ popularity had dwindled. However, the 2019 election in Amethi was still an uphill task for a BJP candidate. Both Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party did not put up a candidate in the 2019 election.
One of the principal reasons why Smriti Irani won Amethi was her indomitable courage. From day one, she marched on the streets of Amethi, questioning the claims of her opponent Rahul Gandhi about Amethi’s development. Another incident from December 2020 illustrates her gutsy avatar. Here is an extract from the book: The Smriti Irani Story – Why She Won Amethi.
Speaking at a function organized to dedicate projects to the people of Amethi, Irani gave a warning to the Indian National Congress that, if they continued to abuse or insult BJP workers, then, come 2024 (the year when the next Lok Sabha elections shall be held), Rae Bareli too shall be gone. The Member of Parliament in the other family pocketborough Rae Bareli, as we shall recollect, is Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi.
The audience responded vociferously to this challenge. What preceded it?
The story goes back to around ten o’clock in the morning outside her apartment in Gauriganj. Among the people who had gathered to meet her, most of whom wanted her intervention or attention for some issue they were facing, one individual started slamming allegations at her of indulging in corruption. There were also some journalists in the crowd.
Vartika Singh, a shooter who competed in international competitions, had previously alleged that Irani and her two aides demanded a bribe of Rs. twenty-five lakh from her for an appointment as a member in the National Commission for Women. Irani, in addition to being Union Minister of Textiles back in 2020, was also the Minister of Women and Child Development.
Irani’s aide had already filed a complaint in a local police station in Amethi for what he considered a frivolous, unfounded complaint. Singh, on the other hand, approached the courts with a claim right before Irani was visiting Amethi. She also produced a letter, alleging that people close to Irani had given her a letter confirming her appointment to the National Commission for Women – a letter, she asserted, was fake.
These allegations by Singh were all over the news, threatening to shadow Irani’s December 2020 visit to Amethi. There were also reports of obstacles put in place by some political rivals in the way of the BJP team in Amethi.
Soon after that discussion with the accuser, Irani sat in her car and was on her way to attend the public programme. A few minutes later, I started asking her questions on my list, including what just transpired.
Irani indicated, among other things, her intention to proclaim that the Indian National Congress will lose Rae Bareli too if it keeps creating obstacles in the BJP’s mission to serve the people of Amethi, a responsibility Amethi had given it in 2019.
Was this out of anger? Sure, she had won Amethi in 2019, but Rae Bareli is Sonia Gandhi’s seat.
Indira Gandhi represented it at one point, as we shall recollect. After her death, two of her relatives – Arun Kumar Nehru and Sheila Kaul – represented it. BJP did win it twice – in 1996 and 1998, the two Vajpayee era elections – before losing it to the Indian National Congress in 1999 (when Rajiv Gandhi’s friend Satish Sharma contested). Since 2004, Sonia Gandhi is its undefeated Member of Parliament.
May be, Irani was upset, understandably so. Why, it begged a question, would she throw that challenge to the Indian National Congress almost three and a half years prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? By challenging the party in the Rae Bareli seat, she was effectively challenging Sonia Gandhi’s likely candidacy. That, in the Indian political parlance, is challenging the unchallengeable.
Arriving at the venue, she started speaking about governmental programmes for Amethi. Within a few minutes, her tone suddenly changed to a slightly more aggressive one. Was that the moment? Was that the build-up to what she indicated she would announce?
It, indeed, was.
In a couple of minutes, that moment came.
Did she run this by someone else within the BJP prior to that day? The answer was in the negative. This, one realizes yet again, is a BJP which has no fear of taking the competition against its rivals in their bastions. Not only is this an example of the level of trust Irani enjoys, this also signifies how leaders like Irani are empowered. Anything that seeks to increase BJP’s presence in areas hitherto dominated by its rivals does not need approval from some ‘high command’.
Was this, then, political bravado? Quite likely not. There seems to be a method behind it.
What is that method? The book explains it.
Kartikeya Tanna’s book, ‘The Smriti Irani Story: Why She Won Amethi’, is available on Amazon. Click here to buy the book.
