On the 23rd of July 2022, Congress plummeted itself to a new low where they decided to attack Smriti Irani’s 18-year-old daughter with false allegations. In a press conference broadcast by INC’s official handles, Pawan Khera (who is trying to prove his ‘Tapasya’ to his political masters – The Gandhi family) and Jairam Ramesh, who is well past his expiry date and looking for political oxygen by pleasing his masters (again, the Gandhi family), made sensational allegations against Smriti Irani’s daughter – allegations that seem to have no basis in reality.
As the press conference commenced, Pawan Khera claimed that it is not Congress’ political style to attack the family members of political opponents, however, since the allegations of “corruption” are against a Union Minister, Congress has decided to discover new lows.
Calling the bar a “sanskari bar”, Congress alleged that Smriti Irani’s 18-year-old daughter attempted to get a fake bar license. They alleged that the license was taken in June 2022, in the name of a man who had died in May 2021, 13 months prior to the license being taken. They further alleged that the restaurant had received two licenses, whereas a restaurant is allowed to get only one bar license according to Goa laws.
While making these false allegations (as would be clear as the article proceeds), Pawan Khera made insinuations about the upbringing of Zoish Irani, claiming that the name of the restaurant was “Silly Souls” and not “Tulsi Sanskari Bar”. “Your supporters play Lulu mall Lulu Mall and fight over Hanuman Chalisa and Namaz while your kids study abroad and under your patronage, indulge in such illegal activity”, Khera said.
While demanding answers from Smriti Irani, however, Pawan Khera slipped up and ended up revealing the real reason behind attacking Smriti Irani’s daughter. He said that the same Smriti Irani who was attacking Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, asking them questions, should now answer why “Bar wale” has a problem with “Akhbaar wale”, claiming that the restaurant in question was surrounded by bouncers enduring that no media person could enter the premises. Before posing questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the same issue, Khera, in his inimitable style (that appeared sleazy at best), also said that Smriti Irani is the “most favourite minister” of PM Modi.
Their ultimate demand in the press conference was that PM Modi remove his “favourite minister” from her position because she was an “illegal bar wali”.
During the press conference, Pawan Khera waved certain papers in the air while making scurrilous allegations against Irani’s daughter, claiming that the allegations he was levelling were based on an RTI response and a show cause notice that had been served to Zoish Irani, however, a perusal of the documents summarily expose the lies being peddled by Congress.
Who is Aires Rodrigues and how did this fiasco against Zoish Irani, Smriti Irani’s daughter start
The fiasco started with Goa “activist”, Aires Rodrigues, filing an RTI application in June 2022 asking for information on the Excise License issued to Silly Souls Goa Cafe and Bar. After receiving the pertinent information, Rodrigues took to his website to issue a statement about the restaurant, claiming that an excise license was falsely issued to the restaurant and it indicates widespread corruption by the Irani family. After the complaint was filed by him, the excise department of Goa issued a show cause notice to the restaurant.
Rodrigues first issued a statement where he insinuated that fake documents were provided to procure a liquor license by the restaurant. After the Congress press conference, 2 more notes were issued by him.
In a 24th July note, claiming that a license was issued to the restaurant in the name of a person who had passed away, Rodrigues wrote, “Those in power should not dare hoodwink the authorities as the long arm of the Law catches up, slowly but surely. There must also be a probe into the legality of all properties including benami ones bought in Goa by Smriti Irani and other central leaders. It’s time to say that enough is enough”. In this statement, while he made allegations against the Irani family, the name of the daughter was not mentioned anywhere and no proof of these “benami properties” were provided.
On the 25th of July, he issued another statement where he played victim claiming to be hounded first by Congress and now by the BJP for his “exposes”, however, even in this note, Zoish’s name was not mentioned anywhere.
On his Twitter account, however, Rodriguez played along with Congress. On the 24th, after the press conference by Congress, he posted a picture of Smriti Irani’s 18-year-old daughter insinuating that the restaurant was “run” by Zoish Irani.
Goa authorities will decide on legality of Silly Souls Café and Bar run by Union Minister Smriti Irani’s family, but one has to fairly concede that it’s a very Secular place. A perfect hideaway for savoring pork & Beef dishes. Magnanimous feat to achieve for a BJP leader. Jai ho pic.twitter.com/WLi4WPN2No
— Aires Rodrigues (@rodrigues_aires) July 24, 2022
It is pertinent to note that Aires Rodrigues is often referred to as an “activist” who indulges in rampant blackmail in Goa and has a colourful history that hardly covers him in glory. In 2017, Aires Rodrigues was accused in a case of sexual harassment and his pre-arrest bail was denied by the court of law.
A woman had accused Rodrigues of `sexually harassing’ her and outraging her modesty by posting her picture on Facebook and linking her to an alleged sex scandal involving state minister Vinod Paliencar. Paliencar had denied involvement in the scandal.
The woman lodged a case with Anjuna police on November 27, which was later transferred to the Crime Branch. Reportedly, the woman had said that after Rodrigues circulated her pictures on WhatsApp, she was unable to leave her house and was getting threats as well.
This is not all. Rodrigues has also been charge sheeted in a case of dual citizenship in the past where he was charge sheeted for holding citizenship of Lisbon, Portugal.
He had also tried to play the victim by alleging that he was attacked by 6 persons and had alleged a “threat to life”, however, all individuals were acquitted by the court.
Even with this colourful past, Rodrigues seems to have played safe and not named Zoish Irani in his press notes. In fact, other than his tweet that came after the Congress press conference, there is no mention of Irani’s daughter. If Zoish Irani had indulged in any illegality, it is pertinent to ask why Aires Rodrigues did not mention Zoish before the scurrilous allegations by the Congress party. In fact, the allegation that he makes against the Iranis of holding “benami property” in Goa also has no evidence to back it up except a conversation that he relays, where he claims that Zubin Irani had once asked him about properties he could buy in Goa. Logic dictates that someone who is looking to purchase benami properties, like a certain Congress son-in-law, for example, would not ask an RTI activist about properties that he can legitimately buy, however, these logical fallacies do not stop Aires Rodrigues from tarnishing the reputation of the Irani family.
More pertinently, however, it is amply clear that the name of Zoish Irani, the 18-year-old daughter of Smriti Irani, was dragged in by the Congress because they believe that the easiest way to exact revenge from Irani, who has been exposing the corruption by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, is to call her teenage daughter a “bar wali”.
Facts of the case and how Congress lied to tarnish Zoish and Smriti Irani
In the allegations levelled by Aires Rodrigues, a man accused of sexual harassment, the main contention was that a liquor license was illegal acquired by the Silly Could Cafe, which is run by the Iranis (According to Congress, it is run and owned by Zoish Irani – the 18-year-old daughter of Smriti Irani).
Before we talk about the involvement of Zoish or the Iranis in general, it is pertinent to note that the RTI response that was received by Aires Rodrigues made no mention of Zoish Irani at all. OpIndia perused the documents that were waved by the Congress party and found no mention of any member of the Irani family in the RTI response that was received by Aires Rodrigues.
It is, therefore, safe to say that not just Aires Rodrigues, but even the Congress dragged the name of the Iranis without any proof, given that the Congress claimed their allegations were based on the RTI response.
The other document that was mentioned by the Congress and Aires Rodrigues, was the excise department show cause notice that was served on the restaurant. It is on the basis of this that they made allegations about the liquor license being obtained illegally by providing fake documents. They had also claimed that the license was illegally issued in the name of the person who had died 13 months ago in 2021.
The ONLY allegation in the complaint by Aires Rodrigues, the same being mentioned in the excise show cause notice, is that fabricated documents were produced to acquire a license in the name of Anthony Dgama, who had already died on 17th May 2021.
However, in the very next page of the excise notice, the reason for this has been amply explained and the owner of the restaurant has been asked to explain the reasons behind the alleged irregularity.
The license was earlier in the name of Mr Anthony Dgama who passed away in 2021. It was his legal heir, his son, who had requested for the license to be renewed in his name, promising to affect the transfer of the license name to his own within 6 months.
The allegation that false documents were produced or that the restaurant is an “illegal bar” is false, even by the facts mentioned in the show cause notice. Now whether technically it was in contravention of the law, would be established only after the hearing by the authorities, however, for Congress or even Aires Rodrigues to insinuate that the Iranis, specifically, Zoish Irani, is running an “illegal bar” is false and malicious.
As for the other allegations about the restaurant not having a licence to function, there is no proof that has been provided by Aires Rodrigues or the Congress party. The only documents that Congress has relied on make no mention of the Iranis and certainly no mention of Zoish Irani.
What is the involvement of the Iranis and specifically, Zoish Irani, in the restaurant in question
The earliest mention of Zoish Irani can be found in a hit job published by The Wire on the 21st of July 2022, 2 days before the Congress press conference. In the report, TheWire claims that the restaurant is run by Zoish Irani, based on a video segment with food critic Kunal Vijaykar. In the video, that the Congress is using now to lie about the Iranis, Zoish Irani, wearing a Chef’s jacket, said that though Goa was a huge tourist hub, it lagged in high-end dining of international calibre and she hoped Silly Souls would become the “food destination” of Goa.
According to Zoish Irani’s lawyer, she was only interning at the Silly Souls Cafe and she had given the interview as an interning chef. “She has interned at 4 places before Silly Soul’s Cafe”, a source close to the family said.
Based on her internship, the Congress and TheWire have alleged that the cafe was owned and run by Zoish Irani.
The Wire in its report has repeated the allegations levelled by Aires Rodrigues without doing their own due diligence. What is worse is that they have gone a step further and dragged Irani’s 18-year-old daughter into the controversy based on a YouTube video, without trying to find out what her association with the cafe was, to begin with.
The same allegations were then repeated by the Congress party who made value judgements against a teenage girl because they wanted to exact revenge from Smriti Irani for exposing the Gandhis.
The truth of the matter is that Smriti Irani’s husband, Zubin Irani, who has been a businessman his entire adult life, co-founded the cafe along with Mr Dgama, who expired in 2021. The restaurant is owned by his legal heir, his son, after his death, and it is in his name that the liquor license is to be transferred.
It is pertinent to note that the cafe is a completely legitimate business interest that Zubin Irani holds, as he is a businessman by profession. Congress has managed to unearth nothing of consequence that puts the Iranis in the eye of the storm. In fact, there is no political influence or public fund that has been used in setting up the business and therefore, attacking a legitimate business interest of Zubin Irani, and dragging in their 18-year-old daughter with moral judgements, only shows that the Congress party is desperately trying to shift the focus from the corruption of the Gandhis and us using a teenage girl to settle scores.
The saga of Congress morphing a picture of Smriti and Zoish Irani, in which Zoish was only 16 years old
As the Congress party was attacking the teenager, a picture was widely circulated by its supporters that showed Zoish Irani hugging her mother, outside the board of the restaurant that had the word “bar” in it.
Amethi Tales…. pic.twitter.com/DLilnygykK
— Suby #ReleaseSanjivBhatt (@Subytweets) July 22, 2022
As it turns out, the image in question is from 2019 and was morphed by the Congress party to make its allegations appear believable.
If one checks the Instagram account of Smriti Irani, the 2019 image is a picture celebrating Smriti Irani’s birthday and is probably taken at their residence, not at the restaurant in Goa at all.
This image was taken by the Congress party and morphed in front of the restaurant board. The image was then used widely to substantiate the lies that the Congress party was peddling about the teenager.
There appears to be a reason why Congress chose to attack Zoish Irani and not Smriti Irani or even Zubin Irani directly. The most effective way to shut a woman up seems to be either to attack her children or her character. Smriti Irani has been a vocal critic of the Gandhis and she defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, a family bastion that the Congress took for granted. It was her, because of whom, Rahul Gandhi had to contest from “safe seat” Wayanad, where he knew the Muslim majority would save him electorally. Braving the attacks that have been mounted against her and her character, Smriti Irani has emerged as a leader that the Congress fears – especially the Gandhis.
With the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, Smriti Irani has been at the forefront of asking pertinent questions to the Congress party that has presided over scams worth crores while they were in power. As Irani shows no signs of cowering because of her character being assassinated constantly, Congress seems to have decided that the most effective way to make her back off, would be to hunt down her teenage daughter. With the burden of these allegations, the life of a teenager would be made miserable and any mother would be forced to take a step back, so her children are not affected by the political mudslinging that Congress seems to be a master at. The moral insinuations made by Congress during the press conference bear testimony to the fact that Congress, shamelessly, tried to character assassinate a teenager because they wanted to intimidate her mother, who has proved to the nation that the Gandhis can be defeated in their own bastion.
