Opposition calls her arrogant, Smriti Irani does not yield

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The MPs demanded that she express “regret” for asking TMC MP Sugata Bose to “have the patience to sit down and listen”. Irani, however, refused to oblige.

“Let me assure the House that insofar as education goes, the central government irrespective of my aggression or combative position today will work in tune with the states because ultimately, we are responsible to the children,” she said and a sentence in Bengali directed at the TMC to say they should have the patience to “sit and tolerate”.

Taking exception to Irani asking him to “sit down and listen” to her countering points he raised in the debate Friday, Bose said: “Since my primary school days, I have not been asked by anyone, when I have stood up respectfully, to sit down in the way that the HRD Minister of this country did today” TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee told the chair: “Please look at the minister’s arrogance…”

Irani replied: “Let me say this that when the hon. Member spoke of a so-called resignation, he misled this House because the scientist that he speaks about is very much a part of the board,” referring apparently to the controversy surrounding the “resignation” of former Department of Atomic Energy secretary Anil Kakodkar.

Speaking on the row over IIT-Delhi director R K Shevgaonkar’s resignation, Irani said: “It is a matter of record that the IIT Director that he (Bose) speaks of is very much… a Director of the IIT.”

She added: “My humble submission is that eminence per se is not a certificate to mislead the House… not a certificate… to pass snide remarks. Eminence…gives you the responsibility to hear the other side of the story.” Her remarks followed TMC members’ comments that she had insulted Bose who they claimed was an eminent historian.

Countering the Opposition charge on appointing people with “saffron” background to the Indian Council of Historical Research, Irani said scholars like Purabi Roy, associated with CPI, and Sacchidananda Sahai, an associate of Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev, too were appointed.

She said the government intervened in DU’s decision to introduce a four-year UG programme as the 40-odd courses were not sanctioned by the President.

“The programme would have produced 77,000 students (each year) with degrees without any worth…If I have protected their future, why are they hurt?,” she asked the Opposition.

Responding to Congress’s claims that her ministry’s funds remain unspent, she said in 2013-14, the utilisation was 92.9 per cent, it had increased to 97.69 per cent in 2014-15.

About alleged government interference in MoUs signed by institutions like IITs, she asked why the UPA government was silent when IIT-Delhi signed an MoU to open a campus in Mauritius using “taxpayers’ money.” Irani struck a light note when she assured she would consider increasing admission quota for each MP at KVs.