Former Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday spoke about her journey from television to politics, the challenges faced by women in public life, balancing motherhood with work and the need to bring together the impatience of youth with the experience of older generations.
Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi, Irani described political office as a privilege and said she had never viewed politics as a means of financial gain.
"In a country of 1.4 billion people, if you can contribute politically any role given is nothing but a privilege," she said.
Irani, who held several portfolios in the Modi government, said her years in Parliament had given her opportunities to work on areas including education and textiles. She cited the National Education Policy, the National Institutional Ranking Framework and the SWAYAM platform among the initiatives she was involved in as education minister.
"I cannot divorce the two," she said of her organisational work and political career.
Irani also recalled returning to professional work after an 18-year break from television, saying she wanted to establish whether she was still capable of succeeding in the profession she had left behind.
She said her decision to enter politics had been driven by a desire to contribute rather than earn.
"Politics was never about a monetary gain. It was about contributing," Irani said.
On the challenges of being a working mother, Irani recalled campaigning when her child was only two months old. She said she would feed her baby, put the child to sleep, work through the night, return home when the baby woke up and then catch a flight to campaign.
"I think the difference between me and the other working mothers in the country is that I have a microphone and they don't," she said.
"I think I did that for a month straight, so I slept on flights and worried about the baby, and then fulfilled my political and contractual obligations," she added.
Irani said women in politics were often subjected to attacks that had little to do with their political work or competence.
"So if you're competent and you're attacked only to bring down and assassinate your character, then know that they have no other better opportunity to somehow try and break you," she said.
She also dismissed criticism of women's appearance and body-shaming as tactics used by those who had little substantive contribution to make.
"It is only done by those who have nothing productive to contribute to politics or to the country," she said.
"On my time, I can get as fat as I want, look as ugly as I want, as long as I'm a damn good politician and a policymaker."
Irani also pushed back against the tendency to describe her primarily as a woman leader.
The former Union Minister said the recent exchange involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party leader Sandeep Dikshit was a reminder of how women in politics can be subjected to personal and sexualised attacks.
Irani said the incident showed that a woman's achievements and contribution could be ignored when a male politician chose to attack her personally.
"All it takes is for one brash man to bring you down, sexualize you, so that you can be demeaned," she added.
Irani said such attacks were not limited to a single incident and that women in politics were often targeted through attacks on their character when opponents could not challenge them on issues of competence.
She said she had faced similar attacks during her political career but did not consider herself a victim.
"I am not somebody who portrays myself to be a victim," Irani said.
She said she had expected political opponents to use sexual slurs against her and had learnt to treat such attacks as an indication that they had failed to find substantive grounds on which to challenge her.
She defended the BJP's engagement with young voters and rejected the idea that political relevance is determined by age, saying India needs both the impatience of its youth and the experience of older generations.
She rejected suggestions of a disconnect between the government and younger voters, pointing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's use of social media.
"If there was a disconnect, then you would not have the prime minister on Instagram, would you?" she said.
Irani said Modi's willingness to communicate directly with people through social media showed that he remained responsive to public sentiment.
She also questioned the age-based framing of the debate, asking younger members of the audience whether those above 29 should be considered irrelevant.
"Are we redundant as human beings because we are not 29? Are we not relevant because we are not 29?" she asked.
"Relevance has no retirement age," she said.
Irani cited Mumbai Police officer Tukaram Omble, who was 54 when he confronted terrorist Ajmal Kasab during the 2008 Mumbai attacks, arguing that institutions depend on people with experience as well as younger generations.
Irani said the government had also attempted to bring different voices into policymaking and pointed to a task force headed by people who had contested elections against Modi as an example of efforts to improve systems.
"If the issue is that can we come together and better our systems, the prime minister has, through his own conduct, ensured that he's created a task force which is also headed by people who fought elections against him, all so that they can contribute to building better systems," she said.
She also cautioned against using age or generational identity to dismiss people who participate in public life, saying every citizen deserved to be heard and respected.
