An old video of the Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s appearance on a TV talk show has gone viral on social media platform particularly on Facebook.
In the said talk show hosted by Shekhar Suman on Sony’s SAB TV, Irani expresses her ignorance when asked about the number of states in India.
The 17 seconds long video has Suman asking Irani, “How many states are there in India?”
Irani calmly replies, “I wouldn’t know.”
She attempts to clarify her lack of knowledge but she’s quickly interrupted by the show host, who moves on to his next question.
Suman asked, “BJP ke kitne states mein sarkar hai (How many states does the BJP has government?)”
“Maine jahan tak dekhe hain teen hain lekin baqi main nahi jaanti (As far as I’ve seen there are three states where BJP has government, but rest I don’t know,” replies Irani.
This prompts the host to correct her by saying that the BJP has government in seven states.
The social media users, mostly her political detractors are now using this video to launch fresh attack against the HRD Minister, who has been a subject of series of controversies ever since she was handed this important portfolio by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
This emerges at a time when Irani finds herself embroiled in a huge controversy over the death of a dalit scholar in Hyderabad University. She’s been criticised for allegedly abusing her position to force the university administration to expel the students.
Her political rivals and university teachers also accused the minister of lying to the nation that the decision to expel five dalit students had the consent of dalit faculty members in the university.