Smriti Irani, as everybody knows, has been facing the heat for some time now, over her educational qualifications and her portfolio as the Union HRD Minister. But sometimes, media organisations tend to go overboard in their zeal for a story and Monday night’s show was one such occasion.
News channel Aaj Tak found itself in the middle of a social media backlash when a video of its political editor Ashok Singhal reportedly asking Human Resource Development Minister (HRD) Smriti Irani an allegedly sexist question started doing the rounds on Monday night.
Smriti Irani was addressing students of Delhi University on the challenges faced by the education system on Monday’s show titled ‘Smriti ki Pariksha’ when the incident happened. The show was co-hosted by Ashok Singhal and anchor Anjana Om Kashyap.
Although Kashyap and Singhal had ample time and space to question Irani on key policy issues, they decided to stick to controversial questions only. As seen in the video, this is what Ashok Singhal asked Smriti Irani that caused the crowd to erupt.
“Narendra Modi ne sabse kam umar ki mantri banaya apko-HRD jaise bada portfolio diya. Aur degree ka bhi vivaad hai- aap graduate ya under-graduate hai…Lekin kya khubi lagi aap mein? Kya vajay thi?”
“You are the youngest minister appointed by Narendra Modi and yet he handed you the Human Resource Department Ministry, which is a big portfolio. And then there’s the dispute regarding your educational certificates as well. What was his reason for appointing you as the HRD Minister? What did he like in you?”
Singhal’s question angered Irani, who asked the crowd to settle down and called out to the women in the audience to pay attention to her paraphrasing of the question Singhal asked her.
“Ashok ji ne mujhe dekhte huye kahaan Modi ko aap me kya khoobi nazar aayi?” (Ashokji looked at me and said, What did Modi see in you that he made you a minister?).
On hearing the question, the audience in the studio protested and started booing the anchor. Singhal on his part made a weak attempt to clear the air and stated the question was in the context of the “fake degree” row.
In return, Irani then asked Singhal if he would have asked a similar question to a man. Singhal didn’t reply on that one, but we all know that the answer, of course, is a big no. When was the last time you heard someone question a male minister about his educational qualifications?
More importantly, why isn’t Singhal asking the PM the same question, ‘what qualities he saw in her’ considering that it was the PM who did the choosing.
The entire episode has drawn ire from fellow journalists and public alike who dubbed Singhal’s question as ‘sexist’. Although the media is supposed to rise above society when it reports on news and report it in an unbiased manner, the sad fact is that many members of the media come from the same society and harbour the same prejudices too.
Smriti Irani, particularly, has drawn many prejudicial comments in the past from both media and politicians alike, largely due to her past career as an actress. The media has been known to describe her as temperamental and theatrical. The politicians have done worse.
“Aap kal tak thumke laga rahi thi.” said Sanjay Nirupam, three-time Member of Parliament, way back in 2012 on ABP News, referring to her career shift.
“I know what you are,” said Sharad Yadav, a Janata Party (United) leader, on the floor of the Upper House.
People have the right to disagree with the PM’s choice of Smriti Irani for the HRD minister portfolio, but that is a matter to be taken up with the PM. It doesn’t give anybody the license to insult her and subject her to this form of repeated harassment under any circumstances. Small wonder then that the audience on the Aaj Tak show broke the stage and gheraoed Singhal.
Image Courtesy: BCCL
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