How Modi cut Smriti Irani to size by inducting Anupriya Patel

Does Prime Minister Narendra Modi play the "Sisterhood Disrupted" game by promoting women colleagues to cut each other out?

First, let's set this aside - the just dethroned Smriti Zubin Irani, former HRD minister and now textile minister, is certainly not being groomed for a bigger role in the UP election; her fans and the BJP's PR machine are feebly trying to nudge the public into believing that Irani is being readied to become the party's Big Job for the state polls next year.

In fact, Irani's ambitious move to be ahead in the race in the UP leadership sweepstakes was one of the prime reasons she was cut to size.

Also read - The underlying misogyny in watching Smriti Irani lose HRD ministry

An appalled party president Amit Shah was stunned as Irani zipped to UP several times, holding high-profile public meetings and media interactions in Amethi, where she lost, ostensibly to reach out to her constituents.

However, can anyone forget the shock and awe when a twice-defeated, uninitiated, unqualified Irani was picked for a high-ranking Cabinet post by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself in his first Cabinet?

As informed insiders spelt it out then - it was a clear message by a mighty Modi, flush from his victorious election in May 2014, to a muted Sushma Swaraj, that she had competition.

Though Swaraj could not be ignored as she was the leading female face of the BJP, and made the external affairs minister, future events would show how Modi, the foreign policy buff, eclipsed Swaraj, even as his protégé, Irani, blazed in the publicity race.

Also read - How Modi emerged the biggest winner in the Cabinet reshuffle

Without doubt, a voluble and theatrical Irani matched the eloquent and lucid Swaraj in the self-promotion department, and soon, a sober Swaraj melted into the background, busy with backroom manoeuvres and backdoor diplomacy, even as Irani was allowed a free run courting controversy and disaster.

From Irani's dodgy education qualifications (to be fair, Modi himself is under a cloud owing to a controversy surrounding his degrees) to her running feuds with vice-chancellors and institute directors, to her high-handedness with ministry officials, every deviation was shrugged off by an apparently indulgent PM, or so it seemed.

So, even as Swaraj was being made to pay for her loyalty to Modi's one-time challenger, the octogenarian LK Advani, Irani was the new challenger to Swaraj's original position in the top leadership of the party.

But it was not long before Modi and Shah became increasingly mistrustful of Irani's proximity to the other powerful power centre, the RSS, and her ardent sympathisers in the Sangh Parivar.

She was seen as a compliant HRD minister, incorporating the Sangh's agenda, even as she battled with the Prime Minister's Office bureaucrats, on education policies and plans.

It was a feud that could not last long, and much to Irani's shock, the Sangh immunity was hardly a safeguard, and she was made to pay the price for her swagger. But in her stormy two years as HRD minister, Irani did displace Swaraj as the BJP's leading female face.

So, it comes as no surprise that Irani is now being eclipsed by a fresh new face in the Cabinet - shrewdly promoted by Modi and Shah - Mirzapur MP Anupriya Patel, the just appointed MoS for health and family welfare.

Of the 19 new inductees, it is only the fortunate Patel who is grabbing headlines newcomers can only dream of, lavished with praise for being eloquent, a pro-Modi voice, an important BJP ally and such like.

It could not be a more delicious irony that the 35-year-old Patel not only comes from the poll significant UP, but has also won the Mirzapur seat, bordering Modi's constituency in Varanasi.

Also read - Why Anupriya Patel's mother won't watch her become Modi's minister

Patel, who belongs to the politically beneficial Kurmi community, was a victorious MLA in 2012, and for further emphasis, her educational qualifications have been underlined by the PMO - she is a graduate from a leading women's college of Delhi University, and holds a Masters in management.

Her political pedigree is equally alluring, her late father Sonelal Patel was one of the founding members of the BSP, along with Kanshi Ram, and went on to form the Apna Dal; and despite a legacy fight with her mother over the party's reigns, Anupriya is scooping the rewards of her family legacy.

It could not be a bigger snub to Irani, who, perhaps, sees her dreams for UP dashed forever.

Now who says karma does not bite?