'Aunty National' Smriti Irani silences trolls, critics in Facebook post

In the backdrop of a Twitter spat with Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary and other controversies, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has slammed her critics, and asserted she is not a person who subscribes to the conventional wisdom of not responding to humiliations or provocations

New Delhi: In the backdrop of a Twitter spat with Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary and other controversies, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has slammed her critics, and asserted she is not a person who subscribes to the conventional wisdom of not responding to humiliations or provocations.

Smriti Irani

In a Facebook post, which she signed off as "Aunty National", Irani talked about her career and challenges, stressed on the need to speak out one’s mind and hit out at "intellectuals" who called her "illiterate." The minister talked about how in daily life a woman is taught not to question anyone or respond to a challenge. "Why not respond? Why zip it? The standard answer such a question begets is that it is not worth it. Nuksaan tumhara hoga, ladke ka kuch nahi bigadega (loss will be yours, nothing will happen to the boy)," she said, adding it was the advice she received not just when she was growing up as a middle class girl, but also in politics.

On the criticism she’s received over her educational qualifications, she said, "You are given the hard battles to fight, you accept (Chandini Chowk and Amethi were no cakewalk my friends). You work from the grassroots up. Yet some intellectual says anpad (illiterate) the minute you are given the opportunity to serve as the HRD Minister," Irani said.

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