Sudden Demotion of a Stunning rise: Smriti Irani
tyle="text-align: justify;">It’s been 2 years for Modi government. And in this 2 years Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised many, both within BJP and outside, when he appointed Smriti Zubin Irani his Human Resources Development minister. It was seen as more than recognition of the spunk the former TV star showed as BJP spokesperson when she would gamely take on detractors of the then Gujarat chief minister or the scare she gave Congress scion Rahul Gandhi on his home turf of Amethi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The choice, which raised eyebrows because of Irani's 'degree deficit', was seen as the launchpad for a big political career. The government's staunch defence of the feisty Irani whenever she was under attack from political opponents only reinforced the estimate that she could be headed for an even bigger role.
Her aggression over contentious issues, most notably the one over the confrontation in Jawaharlal Nehru University, and combativeness towards leading members of the "secular commentariat", only enhanced her stock within the Sangh Parivar as a whole, and even sparked speculation that she could be projected as BJP's choice for UP chief minister.
However, if the pace with which she covered the distance from being an "outsider" to an A-lister was stunning, her sudden shift to the textiles ministry points to an equally sudden demotion, at least in the near run.
The loss of heft is striking, especially given the profile Irani had acquired, with her admirers wasting no opportunity to emphasise her arrival in the power league. But while the reversal of trajectory seems abrupt, government watchers feel it was the result of developments which panned out over a period of time with the powerful HRD minister often coming off as inflexible.
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