A video of Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani has gone viral where she, after getting ticked off by a journalist reacted, “I will call the owner of your paper,” she said, “and tell them no journalist has the right to insult the people.”
Irani had arrived at Krishna Nagar Chauraha in her constituency Amethi from the neighbouring town of Salon in Uttar Pradesh to attend an event on Friday. Journalists had been waiting at the site for more than 2 hours.
Vipin Yadav, who claimed to be a journalist with Dainik Bhaskar asked the minister, ‘Aap Salon pe bole thi, abhi aap Amethi ke Jagdishpur Vidhan Sabha skhetra me hai toh yha bhi do sabd bol dijiye’,” (You spoke in Salon and now that you are in Amethi’s Jagdishpur Vidhan Sabha constituency, could you say a few words here too).
An irate Irani, who till then refused to speak to journalists, replied back saying, “Salon comes under my Lok Sabha constituency…Don’t insult it.”
When the journalist coaxes her again, Irani, in a mild threatening voice said, “I am urging you with love. If you further insult the people, I will call the owner of your paper and tell them no journalist has the right to insult the people.”
“Dr. Bharat Agrawal ji haina? mein karoongi phone aur kahoongi ki meri skhetra ki janta ka apman mat kariye. Aap honge bade reporter, lekin aapko janta ka apmaan karne ka adhikaar nahi hai (Isnt your boss Dr. Bharat Agrawal? I will call him up and tell him that your publication has no right to insult my people. You may be a big shot reporter but you have no right to insult the people),” she said and closes her vehicle door.
Congress tweeted the incident with the caption that read, “Probably, the journalist asked her questions like when sugar will be available at ₹13. Or, when the gas prices will come down. Or, why there is silence over the injustice to women wrestlers. Smriti Irani ji, this is not mohabbat, since you wanted to understand.”
However, Dainik Bhaskar tweeted that Yadav was not their employee or even a stringer, distancing themselves from the controversy.
“In the video of the debate between Union Minister Smriti Irani and a journalist that is going viral on social media, the journalist named Vipin Yadav who is claiming himself to be a reporter of Dainik Bhaskar (DB Corp) is wrong. There is no permanent journalist of Dainik Bhaskar working in this constituency of Amethi Lok Sabha. Here Dainik Bhaskar gives news from its stringer network. But Vipin is not Bhaskar’s stringer,” the publication tweeted.
