Hamari Sansad Sammelan: Session 9 – Yoga tweet shows Rahul's 'neech soch', says Smriti Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani, one of the biggest winners of the Lok Sabha Elections, today said that Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s ‘yoga’ tweets shows his ‘neech soch’. Talking to News Nation’s Deepak Chaurasia during the grand finale of the Hamari Sansad Sammelan, Irani said that the BJP convinced Amethi about true path of development. She said that people of Amethi realised that BJP works even after poll loss in the district. Gandhi tweeted a photo of Indian Army dogs and their handlers performing exercises on the occasion of International Yoga Day, saying “New India.” Soon after that, several BJP leaders, including Tejasvi Surya, hit back at Gandhi. "Ok. He still hasn't learnt his lessons. In one go, he has insulted our Army, brave Jawans, the incredible dog unit, Yoga tradition & our country. I feel really sad for all the young Congress workers (if there are any left) that they have to deal with this man as their leader," Surya tweeted.

Irani said that, “his (Rahul Gandhi’s ) tweet shows his hatred for Indian forces, Indian culture. It showed his sanskars (values). As there were defence personnel as well along with the dogs.” She quipped that, “I think he has made his mind to fight the next elections from Sri Lanka.” She added that, Gandhi is so lost in trying to prove Modi ji wrong that sometimes he loses his mental balance. On Gandhi fiddling with his phone during President’s joint session at Parliament, Irani said that, “it again showed his sanskars.” Talking about her spectacular success in Amethi, Irani said that, “Amethi ki janta jeeti, Smriti Irani nahi.”

It was 2014. It was what was known as a predictable verdict. Rahul Gandhi winning from Amethi, a pocket borough of the Congress. Cut to 2019. After ever-changing counting trends, the Uttar Pradesh town gave the most stunning victory to the BJP. Smriti Irani, yesteryear's TV star-turned-politician defeated Gandhi from Amethi by a staggering margin of over 55,000 votes.

In 2014, then Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had defeated his nearest rival BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi seat by a whopping margin of 1.07 lakh votes. Gandhi had won the seat in 2009 by a margin of over 3.70 lakh votes. Aam Admi Party's Kumar Vishwas had to content himself at the fourth position behind BSP's Dharmendra Pratap Singh.

But the situation was very different in 2019. Experts view that Gandhi was not clued in with changed scenario. According to a PTI report, indicating that Rahul's connect with the electorate was superficial, an Amethi local had said that "It is his team of advisors that has spoilt his chances." On the contrary, the report talked about how Smriti Irani went to every gram panchayat for canvassing and this appears to have made an impact.

Soon after the verdict, Irani had said that her win was not a "rocket science" as people of the Lok Sabha constituency wanted a representative who would work for them for the next five years. Her victory was due to the development agenda of the Modi government, she said, adding that people of Amethi had reposed their trust in her by voting in large numbers for the BJP in 2014 and that she worked in the past five years to keep their faith.