The underlying misogyny in watching Smriti Irani lose HRD ministry
"If you are bullied, stalked or abused online, inform me on my email, gandhim@nic.in" tweeted Maneka Gandhi, Union minister for women and child development, on her timeline a day before the cabinet reshuffle. But the woman who has been bashed the most online is none other than her cabinet colleague Smriti Irani, former HRD minister, and now set to spin a new inning as the textile minister.
There has been no dearth of sarcastic barbs aimed at the controversial minister, but some of the blows have been way below the belt, and well, some have just been spelt out not because of her bad performance as a HRD minister - from suggesting that the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) introduced Sanksrit in their curricula, to sacking two central university vice-chancellors, to alienating students with her cold-hearted reaction following the suicide of Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula, and, last but not the least, the sedition row at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
A former TV drama queen, courting controversies minus or sometimes inclusive of exaggerated background music, is nothing new for Smriti Irani.
However, her switch to a new post has been seen as a "demotion", and everyone who loves to watch a woman stumble, was ready with a pointed finger to at her being "shunted out".
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| Prakash Javadekar, the new HRD minister. (PTI) |
In all the noise, the cat calls, and congratulatory messages have poured in for other Union ministers who have got "new" portfolios like the new youth minister all of 62 years of age, Vijay Goel, or the lovely and non-confrontational Prakash Javadekar, who has replaced Irani, after a "successful" stint as environment minister where his ministry allegedly compromised environmental interests to push projects.
There is no dearth of people to laugh at, pull up, tease or just plain wonder as to why, apart from their Sangh credentials, were they actually given these lofty designations.
But Twitterati, including journalists and students, relished poking fun at Irani: the PM's "chhoti behen" who got shown her place for throwing tantrums. But it is not just her party that has thrown shade on Irani.
We the people have derived perverse pleasure from watching Irani being "punished" for her abrasive behaviour by her Big Brother. But surely Irani is far from any damsel in distress, and doesn't care about online barbs, since her "degree deficit" got her enough online flak, this feisty minister, who holds her ground and could possibly be the BJP's choice for Uttar Pradesh, has given us something new to chew on.
"Kuch toh log kahenge," she said about the noise and jokes on social media about her new responsibilities.
There are far more ministers in the Cabinet who deserved and make for better online jokes. But perhaps Irani knows as a woman, that she will always be laughed at first.
As a woman she will also be pulled up for her mistakes promptly. Because it is never easy being right or wrong, you will always be bullied for being a woman.
The real folks who need a bit of online needling are the " the crazy boys" as a super pleased newly-minted education minister Prakash Javadekar, called Narendra Modi's set of ministers. The party clearly doesn't like their girls getting cocky.
But it is not just the BJP, while we all laughed at a Smriti Irani Twitter joke, perhaps we are all also the new "ministers for misogyny" .