Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani said that building toilets for girls, transfer of subsidies into the bank accounts of the poor through DBT and the surgical strike across the LoC are examples of ‘Rashtra-niti’ and not ‘Rajniti’.
Irani was replying to a question of a student during the 8th Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad organised by MIT World Peace University here. She was speaking on the topic Indian Democracy – Black or White’. A student from Gujarat asked her about political parties playing divisive ‘Rajniti’ (politics) and asked who would do ‘Rashtra-niti’ for the country. In her reply, the minister said, ‘Building toilets for girl students in schools is Rashtra-niti, not Rajniti.
Transferring subsidies into accounts of the poor through Direct Benefit Transfer is Rashtra-niti, not Rajniti and doing a surgical strike across the LoC is Rashtra-niti and not Rajniti.’ She also took a swipe at Tushar Gandhi, who spoke before her, for hailing Jahwarlal Nehru University student leaders Shehla Rashid and Kanhaiya Kumar, young Dalit MLA Jignesh Mevani and Patidaar leader Hardik Patel for empowering the democracy. She stands ‘condemned’ by the person who spoke before her, she said. ‘Condemned, for I would never embrace the words ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’, today I am condemned because I said with pride Bharat Mata Ki Jai’,’ she said. T
he democracy in India, Irani said, is not black or white or grey, but it has all the colours of rainbow. ‘See on this platform, a lot of people, who have diverse points of view, spoke and you clapped louder for everyone. This is the beauty of democracy,’ she said.
Earlier, Tushar Gandhi, the great grand-son of Mahatma Gandhi, said, ‘As life can’t be black and white, similarly democracy can’t be black and white. Let’s empower the democracy; Hardik Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid, these are not anti-nationalists, they just care about democracy. Just keep in mind that silent democracy is a sick democracy.’
PTI
