Dear Smriti Irani, stop being a social media troll for once

On June 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined seven mantras for BJP workers in the National Executive. First of them was empathy and restraint in their conduct. Within 24 hours, Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani was engaged in a war of words on Twitter with Bihar's education minister Ashok Choudhary.

It all began when Ashok Choudhary tweeted: "Dear @smiritiirani ji.. kabhi rajniti aur bhashan se waqt mile to shiksha niti ki taraf bhi dhyan de (… when you find time from politics and speeches, do look at the education policy too)." This was the beginning of a Twitter war.

This was the ensuing conversation: 

And within three minutes, Smriti Irani responded with three tweets. This went on. And in the middle someone tweeted, "Madam, Had you went to college/University you would know that its a common practice to address ppl as "Dear". The Union HRD minster was sharp to hit back:

This is not first time Smriti Irani was involved in a Twitter spat. Just 20 days ago, she had a Twitter showdown with Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Here is a screenshot of Irani's spat with Chaturvedi:

In February 2016, journalist Barkha Dutt wrote "A Letter To PM Modi From Anti-National Sickular Presstitute". For promoting the piece, Barkha Dutt took to Twitter, and tagged the HRD minister.

Barkha wrote:

Smriti Irani accused Barkha Dutt of peddling lies. She wrote:

Like a professional journalist, Barkha linked her tweet to newspaper reports, backing up her initial claims. These reports made it evident that Smriti Irani had, in fact, made those comments. Denying them, the HRD minister responded:

Barkha Dutt asked Smriti Irani:

To which Smriti Irani called Barkha Dutt's claims "a systematic attempt to derail facts".

Also read: Smriti Irani, is it okay for women to get rape threats on Twitter if they're not a Modi bhakt?

In December 2016, Smriti Irani lashed out at journalist Sagarika Ghose after the latter made fun of the minister's English. Ghose made a mockery of Irani's usage of term "blasphemous" in her press conference against AAP's attack on finance minister Arun Jaitley.

In a series of tweets tagging Sagarika Ghose, Irani asked her to schedule a one-on-one interview with her instead of engaging in banter. Smriti Irani ended her series of tweets saying she doesn't have time for the journalist's melodrama for she has work to finish.

This is not all. In November 2015, journalist Anubhuti Vishnoi reported in The Economic Times that Smriti Irani had recommended over 5,000 admissions in the Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in one year.

The journalist tweeted her report, and in response, Smriti Irani wrote, "@anubhutivishnoi, I recognise ur source-based agenda n have made public my contempt for it." She added, "@anubhutivishnoi All admissions r recorded as per requests frm MPs across parties+ Bpl families. Ur source based lie as usual ignores facts."

Anubhuti said that with utmost respect to the minister, she had been requesting for the ministry's comments since Friday, but none had come. To this minister responded, "2 line humari aur baaki ka version aapka. N by d way respect aap na bhi kare to koi farak nai padta."

The HRD minister ended this spat by writing, "It is bcoz of journalists like u dat a reader like me has stopped subscribing to ET".

Also read: Why not respond? Read 'Aunty National' Smriti Irani's explosive FB post

In May 2015, Smriti Irani went after Rahul Gandhi on Twitter. It all started over IIT Madras’ ban on a student organisation critical of the Modi government. Rahul said the de-recognition was aimed at "crushing dissent" and he will fight such attempts. Smriti Irani challenged him for a debate on the issue of governance, including education, and accused him of fighting his battles hiding behind the Congress'student wing - the NSUI.

She further said, "Yesterday u told NSUI to create disorder where there is order. Today ur goons come to my house as I’m away at work."

Smriti Irani has jumped from one controversy to another after becoming the HRD minister. Yet she doesn't hesitate to take on the Opposition head on. For this trait, she is also known as the angry young woman of BJP. But this trait is in contrast to what Narendra Modi expects from his party workers, that is, restraint.

Also read: India's patriotism starts with saas-bahu and ends in Bollywood

If restraint is not her forte, then she should learn from her senior cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj, especially on how to respond on social media.

As the country’s external affairs minister, she has reached out to all, especially those from the diaspora community who sought help in times of distress. Someone, who goes by the name of Venkat sought her help in getting his defective refrigerator replaced.

Rather than getting irritated or offended she wrote, "Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress."

Also read: When Sushma Swaraj showed wit isn't in Twitter's cold storage yet

And interestingly, it happened the same day when Smriti Irani was fighting it out with Ashok Choudhary. It is difficult to imitate someone but there's no shame in learning from one's elders.

Dear Smriti Irani, are you listening?