On Saturday, March 9, Congress spokesperson for their OBC department, Arunesh Kumar Yadav, shared a morphed photo of Union Minister Smriti Irani via his X (formerly Twitter) account. In his post, Arunesh Yadav wrote, “The photo is old, but recognise this ‘apsara’, those who give correct answer, their ID will be promoted (by me).”
The image in question is actually of a belly dancer on a Turkish BBQ night. In the image Congress leader Yadav shared, the Turkish belly dancer was replaced by Union Minister Irani.
Following this post by the Congress leader, an FIR was registered against Arunesh Yadav for posting the objectionable picture of Smriti Irani.
A Congress leader has been booked for posting an objectionable photograph of a woman Union minister on social media.
— IANS (@ians_india) March 11, 2024
An FIR has been registered with the cyber cell of Lucknow Police and the said post has been deleted. pic.twitter.com/Q4v8KY0a6y
Notably, Ms Irani is currently the Minister of Women and Child Development and Minister of Minority Affairs.
After a complaint was filed against Arunesh Yadav, the Congress leader deleted the offensive post and claimed that he posted it by mistake.
In his half-hearted explanation post, Yadav posted, “Two days back, from my Twitter ID, a morphed photo was posted by mistake. I deleted that when I came to know about it. If that tweet has hurt anyone’s sentiments, then I regret it.”
मेरी ट्विटर आईडी से 2 दिन पहले त्रुटि वस एक Morphed फोटो पोस्ट की गई थी, जो कि इंटरनेट पे पड़ी थी, जिसकी जानकारी मुझे मिलते ही मैंने उस ट्वीट को डिलीट कर दिया था।
— Dr. Arunesh Kumar Yadav (डॉ अरुणेश यादव) (@YadavArunesh) March 11, 2024
यदि मेरे उस ट्वीट से किसी की भावनाएं आहत हुई है तो उसके लिए मुझे खेद है।
Notably, this is not the first time Smriti Irani had to face cheap and sexual attacks from Congress leaders and its associated ecosystem. Ever since Smriti Irani defeated the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, she has been subject to several sexual slurs and personal attacks from Congress leaders.
In 2023, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blew a flying kiss towards Union Minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha. As always, Congress loyalists and party cadre came out to defend their beloved prince. Neetu Singh, Congress MLA from the Hisua constituency in the Nawada district of Bihar said, “Our leader, Rahul Gandhi, has no dearth of young females. Why would he blow a flying kiss to a 50-year-old woman and not a young girl.”
Earlier in 2023, Congress leader Srinivas BV while speaking at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in defamation case tried to take a dig on Union Minister Smriti Irani. Srinivas, while trying to attack the BJP on inflation, mocked Irani, and said how prior to 2014, she would talk about things being expensive. However, now, the ‘mehengai daayan (reference to the song from the film Peepli Live) ko darling bana ke bedroom mein bitha diya hai‘ (you have made the inflation your darling and kept her in your bedroom).
Back in 2022, Congress leader Ajay Rai made misogynistic comments about the Amethi Lok Sabha MP. Ajay Rai, who is mainly identified as a Gandhi family loyalist, said that the Amethi MP comes to her constituency only to show ‘latke and jhatke’.
In 2021, the official Twitter handle of the UP Congress shared a 20-second video where two women talking to media were abusing Irani with expletives in an unacceptable language and manner. The video was filmed just after Amethi rally of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi.
In 2020, A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Shashank Bhargava, the Congress MLA from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, for making derogatory comments against Smriti Irani. “In the past, Smriti Irani would roam around with a lot of bangles in her hand. She is close to the Prime Minister and can give her bangles and a lot many other things. I will request her to gift the Prime Minister her bangles and whatever else he wants and ask him to roll back the price hike”, Bhargava was seen saying.
Repeated personal attacks on Smriti Irani since 2019 from Congress leaders confirm only one thing, they are yet to recover from the defeat of Rahul Gandhi at the hands of Ms Irani in 2019 elections.
