What Smriti Irani's Parliament speech says about loving India too much
The Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Jat agitation in Haryana have dominated the news over the last couple of weeks but now a 'refreshing' interlude has come in the form of our very own Smriti Irani.
The "degree holder" from Yale made a fiery speech in Parliament on Wedsnesday and quoted, among other things, a 2,000-year-old sermon from the Roman era to prove her point and hit out at critics.
To be honest, I loved her demolition of the Opposition. Her body language, her emotion and her overall confidence as she, point by point, countered every allegation and tirade against her.
What I enjoyed most about her "interventions" was yuvraj Rahul G trying his best to hide someone in between two burly colleagues and hoping the earth would swallow him. He seemed scared - even to the extent of being terrified - at what he thought was about to hit him.
The few minutes of enjoyment apart, I was somewhat sceptical about what Madame Minister of HRD said on the Hyderabad University incident and other issues; aware of several faux pas she has committed earlier but gave her the benefit of the doubt because of the entertainment she provided to the otherwise dull session.
Twenty-four hours later, her "demolition" has begun in earnest and her lies on the Rohith Vemula suicide have been nailed by none other that the chief medical officer of the University himself. More interesting observations are being made which, once again, point towards how ill prepared and how much in a hurry she was with her speech, as if she was waiting to get it out.
It was no less amusing a couple of days ago when Madam called in on Times Now, supposedly to console a distraught Maj Gen GD Bakshi weeping during a debate on the national flag.
A hardened war veteran crying on live television is not something that we watch every day but what we have never seen is the minister calling in at the very moment the tears started to roll and "speaking as a citizen", with an emotional Arnab dada squealing it an "exclusive newsbreak".
Irani's words, too, appeared well rehearsed and she spoke flawlessly (as if reading from a prepared text), not at all like in an emotional situation the channel had created (read scripted).
Yes, she is an (former) actress so this can be expected but what about the general? He is a tough soldier who has seen military action. He loves the tricolour, no doubt. I love it too. We all do. We get emotional about the flag, be it at a cricket match or a celebration.
We swear by the tricolour but what we should expose are the histrionics and the drama associated with this sacred symbol of our freedom and our Independence.