First Impression indeed is the last impression, at least here, in the case of now Human Resource Minister, Smriti Irani. The lady who started as a television actress playing an adored bahu in the famous Kyunki..Saas Bi Kabi Bahu Thi. She went on to become a household name and till recently was taken seriously by one and all. Why wouldn’t she be! She gave Rahul Gandhi healthy competition in the latter’s backyard (Amethi) in the recent general elections (300748 votes against 406581). She at 38 is also the youngest member of the cabinet. In early 2010, she was appointed as the National Secretary of BJP and later in the year as the All India President of the BJP’s Women’s wing.
So can’t she be taken seriously anymore, and why is she the center of jokes on the Social Networking sites? It all started after the Lok Sabha results were announced, Irani was at the center of a raging controversy over her educational qualifications after it emerged that she had made contradictory declarations when she contested the parliamentary elections in 2004 and 2014.
Can a person do her job fine as a Cabinet Minister when questions are raised over her educational qualification? Is she the right choice to hold a position of a Human Resource Minister? Wouldn’t it have been good had anyone with hefty amount of experience come into picture?
So what is the fuss? Smriti Irani, the HRD Minister is a BA pass in 2004, undergrad in 2014. Digest that. According to Irani’s affidavit filed with the Election Commission of India in 2004 she holds a bachelor’s degree in arts from the Delhi University (School of Correspondence). She passed out in 1996.
Interestingly in the recent election affidavit with the EC, Irani claimed that she only completed Part I of her bachelor’s degree in Commerce in the year 1994 from Delhi University’s school Of Open Learning.
Obviously either both of the claims are false or only one of them is right. There is no way that both can be right. So is Ms. Irani an under-graduate or a graduate. To add to the case, the HRD Minister recently said she also has a degree from the prestigious Yale University. What is she actually? The question isn’t about her lack of a degree but it is the inaccuracy that she stated in her affidavit.
Eminent Columnist, Shobhaa De calls her smart and efficient and so does Pritish Nandy. In an interview to Rediff Pritish Nandy calls her clever and open minded stating that she has kept switching her life choices at different times. He says that this shows that she is a quick learner which is an important asset as a minister. But as of now, isn’t the minister lying when we have no clue about how qualified is she actually or is she at all?
She might have come a long way in her 38 years and landed up as a HRD Minister. Having began her life from a completely other space, she walked in a completely different direction, went on to compete in the Miss India contest, moving on to television, then to politics. But there is one thing everybody wants to know, asking her sarcastically, making fun of her on social networking sites or the opposition asking her the same old question now. Really, Ms. Smriti Irani, can you please come clean on your educational qualification, and end this matter once and for all?
