Smriti Irani, who was a minister in the first term of the Narendra Modi government, has responded to the allegations of being called arrogant. She said that people talk more about women that they are arrogant. She said, ‘If you say that you should stand straight, then they will say that you are arrogant. If someone calls at 12-1 in the night, then they will say this. You will be asked to come to a party and if you say that I don’t go to parties, then also you will be called arrogant.’ Smriti Irani said that I was never interested in going to parties. Even when I was in the industry, my behavior and conduct was the same. This is not arrogance but my discipline.
Speaking in a podcast, she also told about an incident from many years ago, when a senior Congress leader commented on her. Smriti Irani said, ‘I will not take names. But during the UPA tenure, when I was an MP, I had gone to a book release at the house of Vice President Hamid Ansari sahab. I was standing with the Vice President’s daughter. During this time, a senior Congress leader came, who was the Foreign Minister once. Now he has passed away. He said that things like you do not have the right to increase their weight. To this I said that the weight is increased so that people like you do not see it.’
Now if you say it so clearly, some people will still call you arrogant. Irani said that if you have discipline, people will say such things. When I was in the industry, people used to say such things. I did not go to parties, but I got a good career without going to parties. I did 22 projects as an actor, but never got work by going to parties. She said that if there was no discipline, Narendra Modi would not have been able to do so much work for the country. He himself hates sycophants. If someone sings a few useless praises in his praise, he will say namaste and get up. The image that has been created of him is not correct.
Irani said that I ran the ministry for 10 years, but there was never any problem. When I was the education minister, PM Narendra Modi’s intention was to talk to everyone. He listens to everyone. She said that whenever anyone meets Narendra Modi, he tells them to say whatever is the truth. He gives everyone a chance to say the whole thing. Only after that he gives his suggestion. It was his suggestion that everyone should be talked to for the new education policy. Then we talked to everyone from the Communists to the Congress.