Smriti Iraniji, losing your head will not earn you Bharat Mata's respect

Once upon a time in a not too distant, but melodramatic (prime) time there was a bahu. She dressed traditional, but over the top, spoke mostly in a demure way and was more involved in kitchen politics than anything else.

But she became iconic and most of the country stopped whatever they were doing and waited in front of their television night after night for her to charm them.

[Cut to Circa 2015-16]

The docile bahu has long left the building (which, ideally, is not a bad thing), but instead a nostril-flaring, chest-beating, dramatic (it is probably hard to let go of your first love so easily) has entered Parliament. Even children are taught to never keep pointing a finger at others.

Smriti Irani these days is beginning to increasingly resemble the shrill, squeaky villain of her erstwhile soap operas. It is not just her speech in Parliament, although honestly histrionics like "beheading myself and lay it on your feet" are just not oratory, nor do they effectively silence an opposition. Her party’s mentor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee would give the deepest cut to the shrewdest politician and still smile.

Smriti Irani instead seems to be on the Amethi election battlefield 24/7. That wagging finger is now her trademark, as much as statues are Mayawati's. Indian politics for women may be as much a man’s world as other fields. Neither are we like America, which is still unsure about voting for a woman as president. In fact, the sub-continent won't bat an eye-lid when it comes to electing women politicians, ministers or even prime ministers. Then why does Irani still feel that the only way to succeed is to be seen as aggressive and arrogant?

Her own party senior leader, Sushma Swaraj can be attacking or dismissive in Parliament, loud during election campaigns, which is usually par for the course for most politicians; yet, the foreign minister comes across as a genial person on most other days. Even on social media, Swaraj does not belie the image of someone who will bite your head off if you ask a question.  Sadly, this is the image Smriti Irani has made for herself now. She is yet to learn that, as a minister, it doesn’t have to always be an answer for an answer, sometimes she should let sleeping dogs lie.

Is it any wonder then that her belligerence is always countered and any mistake, or a whiff of a controversy, involving her snowballs into something bigger, whether it is her educational qualification or the veracity of her comments on Rohit Vemula in Parliament? She is not the first HRD minister, yet she seems to be the most controversial by a long mile and her personality — natural or planned isn’t helping much. When was the last time anyone saw her smiling in a newspaper photograph?

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was called the Iron lady, but she didn’t have to show it on her face, it was by her stance and by her determination. Indira Gandhi was called Goongi Gudia and many other derogatory terms, but she would still join in and dance with a bunch of girls in Ladakh. A tearful, arrogant, seldom smiling person is either trying too hard or is too confident, and we know overconfidence brings downfall in politics.

Why does Smriti Irani need to keep her temper on the tip of her nose or rather her finger? For a young politician, who has done rather well for herself in a short span of time, she should be assured of her standing, especially since she has the backing of both the prime minister and Amit Shah. Instead, she herself behaves like a student leader on a campus where passion and angst are usually dismissed as the follies of youth.

Respect cannot be demanded or yelled for, Irani, it needs to be earned.