Why it is so personal between Smriti Irani and the Gandhis

It is not unusual to see Smriti Irani taking on a member of the Gandhi family for that seems to be part of her portfolio allocation ever since she wrested Amethi away from Rahul. What is unusual however is to see Sonia Gandhi enter into the sparring arena, gloves off and take on her opponent directly. The acrimonious face off between Smriti Irani and the Congress President on the floor of the house that saw Sonia telling the Union Cabinet Minister – ‘Don’t Talk to Me’ made instant headlines. The main reason for this was that this was one of those rare times when Sonia rushed to her own defence and did not depend on sundry Congress leaders to fight her case. 

By now the details are well known. The BJP had been demanding an apology from Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury over his labelling the President of India as a `Rashtrapatni’ instead of the gender neutral `Rashtrapati’. Only the demand was not just for an apology from him but also from his leader, Sonia Gandhi. At which point, Sonia walked across to the Speaker’s chair and indicated that Chowdhury had apologised. When Irani tried to engage her, Sonia snapped back with a `Don’t Talk to Me’ and from all accounts an angry exchange between the two followed which saw MPs from both sides rush to the well of the house. Later the BJP took this as an insult and demanded not one but two apologies from Sonia Gandhi.

One has to see this spat in context. During the last few days Sonia has been to the Enforcement Directorate office three times. In the meantime Congress spokespersons have alleged that Smriti Irani’s daughter ran an illegal bar in Goa. As a counter attack Smriti claimed this was because she had been taking on Sonia over the National Herald case. In fact this morning’s headlines also showed Smriti telling party workers not to call her Madam as there was only one Madam in India, and that was Sonia Gandhi. This is part of a familiar script, for BJP is always showcasing Irani as a self-made leader versus the entitled politics of the Gandhis. The Modi-Shah duo also prefer to front their attacks on the Gandhis, specially Sonia, through Smriti Irani as then the Congress cannot play the gender card against them.  

All this has only worsened the bad blood between the Gandhis and the Union Minister.  Somewhere, something must have rankled otherwise Sonia Gandhi is not the kind of politician to publicly lose her cool. She has sat through so many jibes against her accent & her political naivete without rising to the bait. What has changed now? It does seem as if the fight between Irani and the Gandhis is not just political but also personal.