SMRITI BALM FOR AMETHI
HRD minister Smriti Irani consoling villagers during a visit to the fire-hit Barauliya village in Amethi on Saturday. More than 60 houses of the village were gutted in a fire recently.
Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani arrived here on a rainy, muddy Saturday afternoon to expand her association with Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.
With ‘Mission 2017’ written all over her roughly three-hour-long visit, she met villagers in Baraulia whose houses were gutted in a blaze on May 19. A day after the incident, Irani had rushed some help for the distraught villagers who also saw the Gandhi scion visiting them on May 21 to do exactly the same. Exactly two months later, Irani arrived in the Gandhi backyard on a red beacon vehicle, took potshots at the Congress MP and slammed the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh over the law and order situation.
The charismatic Irani lost the election for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in May but won hearts after a spirited fight and due to it got a subsequent cabinet berth too.
On Saturday, she made her way through the mud-spattered lanes to meet the people of OBC-SC dominated Baraulia village and made repeated requests to the villagers to not touch her feet.
“Arrey pair mat pado, amma .. (Oh, please don’t touch my feet),” she said politely, asking the district administration to ensure that those who had lost their houses got new ones. When an SDM showed her a list carrying names of 71 beneficiaries who had been provided monetary relief by the UP government, she inquired from the block development officer how long it would take for the government to get them new houses.
She told HT that by coming to meet the people in their need, she had merely kept her promise to Amethi. “It merely shows that I value my words,” she said when asked if her visit indicated a larger political design to consolidate the BJP base in the Congress bastion. Despite Irani laughing the query away, the BJP plan was all too evident with Irani later urging the party cadre to ensure that the party wins all the “five assembly segments” in the 2017 UP polls.