In a strong retort to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “I will fight Shakti” remark, union women and child development minister Smriti Irani tore into the Wayanad MP on Tuesday, maintaining that for her, the term means “Durga” and “desh”. The BJP leader also said the destiny of a nation cannot be decided by a man who is scared of being defeated in Amethi.
“He seems to have clarified, saying that he wasn’t mentioning the ‘Shakti’ that is related to religion. But in today’s day of media, his expression isn’t hidden from anyone in this country. This is not the first time he has spoken against my religion, Hinduism,” said Irani at News18’s Rising Bharat Summit 2024 in Delhi. “The entire nation heard him saying he wants to fight Shakti which is connected to Hinduism. As a Hindu, I want to tell Gandhi, so far those who challenged my religion have faced an end that reading the Ramayana, Gita, and Mahabharata should give him a fair idea of.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s open challenge, Rahul Gandhi clarified, accusing the BJP of “always trying to change the meaning of my words by twisting them in some way or the other”, while stressing that he had spoken about a “power (or ‘shakti’) that has captured institutions, media, industry, and the entire constitutional structure of India”.
However, before the clarification, the Congress leader had whipped up a storm after he promised to fight “Shakti”, saying, “There’s a word in Hinduism…” It prompted PM Modi to say that he would fight to defend “Shakti” with his life.
Irani went a step further to challenge Gandhi whom she defeated in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “But if indeed he is secular, he must not fight staying behind religion. He should fight on issues,” she said.
The minister even dared the Congress leader to be specific about what “Shakti” he was referring to, if indeed he was referring from a political prism. “PM Modi has referred to four Shaktis in this country: Nari Shakti, Yuva Shakti, Krishi Shakti, and Shakti that are now being elevated. Who does Rahul Gandhi want to fight?” asked Irani.
Amethi was a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh until 2019 when Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes. Raebareli was the only UP seat won by the grand old party in the last general election, which has now been vacated by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“Victory and loss are a part of electoral politics. But what defines a leader is whether they have grit enough, courage enough to stand with their own beliefs amongst their own people. And I don’t think someone who escapes and is fearful of being conquered electorally is somebody who can lead a nation to better prospects,” said Irani at the summit.
The BJP has once again fielded Smriti Irani from Amethi for the Lok Sabha polls beginning next month, while the Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the seat.
“If you had witnessed 4 lakh poor women searching for the cover of darkness so they could relieve themselves in the open in an area where this family ruled for 50 years, you would be as angry as me. If you had seen 3 lakh people living without potable water in their homes from an area that used to elect prime ministers of this country, then you too would hear a cacophony in your head as I do. If you had seen 4 lakh people without roofs over their heads…in an area where the Gandhi family ruled for 50 years,” she said.
Irani said that when she first went to Amethi in 2014, she had to sleep in a warehouse. She added that back then the people there spoke the language of fear and not love.
Rahul Gandhi was MP from Amethi for 15 years, his mother was UPA chairperson for 10 years, “his friend” Akhilesh Yadav was running the government, she said. “But the laying of the foundation of the collector’s office was done by Amit Shah, the first CT scan machine, first dialysis centre, first blood bank, first passport office were all brought by the Modi government,” the minister said. “Because till the time the poor didn’t have to beg for the smallest thing from the family, they weren’t assured of securing the votes.”