Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief will be ‘achhe din for BJP’: Smriti Irani
HRD minister Smriti Z Irani tells Akshaya Mukul the reason she gets into scraps on social media is because she gives back whenever she is attacked personally. She also says Rahul Gandhi becoming Congress president would be achhe din for BJP, and speaks about her policy initiatives.
How have you done in two years?
There was a bit of apprehension as to what is it that I will bring to the fore as HRD minister. Much has been done since then. The school system was plagued with a lack of data. The challenge was how to apply a solution to the last mile, to the last student or to the teacher with regard to training and remedial measures to enhance learning outcomes. That is the kind of measures we have rolled out in the past two years.
But flagship programmes are facing fund problems.
For too long in our country and especially since the last NDA government, when we started SSA, there is a huge system of building infrastructure. Once you have given funds to build the infrastructure, then you need addition-al funds to either maintain them or if you have totally collapsing infrastructure, th-en you need to give money to rebuild it. Most of the interaction between the Centre and states has been on the basis of block data. That is why budgeting is also looked from a block perspective. There has to be an honest course correction. The legacy of the UPA government was legacy of announcements that we resist. This government has shown how governance can impact.
In the last one year, you and the ministry have been involved in various controve-rsies. In retrospect, do you think the Hyderabad University issue could have been handled differently?
We as a government do not intervene in daily administration of any university, let alone Hyderabad University. I was very clear that when I presented my speech in Parliament I present every paper to back every sentence that came out of my mouth. .
What about JNU?
If a college or university thinks it has a law-and-order challenge, should I say you call police at your political convenience? It is the decision of the administration, which has nothing to do with the government of India. There have been challenges in JNU before. In 2009, there was a lathicharge. How come there was no Rahul Gandhi in JNU then?
JNU issue created acrimony in and outside Parliament, a privilege motion was moved against you.
No privilege was moved.
But Sitaram Yechury did move it.
Yechury misled the press. Deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha came out and said there was no privilege motion moved against me. I think it is a sad day when you see political legends fall this low.
There are accusations that you want to change the character of institutions.
Anybody who is HRD or culture minister will get attacked whenever BJP is in power. That is the nature of the beast. It is not a political atta-ck, it is an ideological attack by those who have been steeped in the system for too long, demonizing the right wing. So, it is an expected attack. One needs to just take it with a pinch of salt and move on.
Is RSS interfering in education?
No.
Will there will consensus on National Education Policy or confrontation? Should it not be discussed by Parliament?
Consensus has been built even before the process has been completed by the committee. Every block, every district, every state was taken on board. 1.1 lakh villages gave in writing what kind of policy they want, 5000 blocks and 500 districts came forward. It is unprecedented. Even children were consulted. Every voice possible was consulted including Unesco and Unicef. As for Parliament discussion, the entire process is not over yet.
Will it get into political entanglements?
I don’t think so. Everybody is very keen that quality increases, that curriculum is updated, especially in higher education. Everybody is keen that there is some responsibility and accountability that is infused with autonomy in the system.
What changes do we expect in the next three years?
Fundamentally, by 2019, you will see the change absent in Indian education system in the last 30-40 years.
There is talk of you as BJP’s UP CM candidate.
You want me out of the ministry?
Why do you attack Rahul Gandhi so much?
I am asked by journalists, so I say.
He is being elevated as party president
It is achche din for us.
There will be expected attack on anyone who becomes HRD minister in this government. During UPA, no ideological attack was made by inte-llectuals who were concerned about the state of education. Nobody spoke about the fact that the RTE Act of 2009 gave 25% reservation to poor chil-dren in private schools but there was no financial provision. Under this government, we facilitated entry of poor children into private schools.
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