Smriti Irani gets Women and Child Development and Textiles in Modi 2.0

Smriti Irani, who rose quickly in the Bharatiya Janata Party and served as Human Resource Development and Information and Broadcasting Minister in Narendra Modi’s first term, will now handle the Women and Child Development and Textiles portfolios in his second cabinet.

The Amethi win

After losing to Rahul Gandhi in 2014, Irani kept working in Amethi for five years, and it paid off when she defeated the Congress president on his home ground in 2019. Even in her 2014 defeat, the 43-year-old former television actor had cut Gandhi’s winning margin to 1.07 lakh, down from 3.7 lakh at the previous election.

Throughout the campaign she said Amethi’s people wanted change and development and would vote for Modi. After Gandhi conceded on 23 May and congratulated her, she tweeted a line by the Hindi poet Dushyant Kumar: “Kaun kehta hai aasmaan mein suraakh nahin ho sakta.” On 26 May she returned to Amethi to help carry the bier of Surendra Singh, a BJP worker and campaign aide who had been killed.

The campaign also saw sharp exchanges with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who called her an outsider and accused her of handing out shoes to insult Rahul Gandhi.

Career and controversies

Irani first contested the Lok Sabha from Chandni Chowk in 2004, losing to Kapil Sibal. She entered the Rajya Sabha in 2011 and was re-elected in 2017.

In 2014 she became the youngest cabinet minister and was given HRD. After a two-year tenure marked by controversy, she was moved to Textiles. Her time at Information and Broadcasting was also contentious, including reported friction with the Prasar Bharati board and a notice on fake news that was withdrawn on the PMO’s instructions.

Her educational qualifications have been questioned. In her 2019 nomination she stated she passed secondary school in 1991 and senior secondary in 1993, and did not complete a three-year B.Com course at Delhi University’s School of Open Learning in 1994. An earlier affidavit had reportedly said she graduated in 1994, prompting opposition claims that she was not a graduate.

A fluent speaker, she was often the BJP’s first choice for press conferences and for defending the party in Parliament.

See also: Lok Sabha members and political leaders.

Originally published on 31 May 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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