Union Minister of Textiles and BJP leader Smriti Irani demanded a trial in the case related to derogatory remarks made by Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam. Smriti Irani appeared before the Delhi’s Patiala House Court along with the accused Congress leader. She stated that she was not ready to settle the dispute outside the court and wanted to pursue the case. Smriti Irani said, “I want a trial in the case. Nirupam made a defamatory remark first. There is no question of apology.” She further added that the accused had made one more derogatory remark against her in the court when he said, “Iss aurat ko Supreme Court jaane ka shauk hai (this lady is fond of going to the Supreme Court).” Congress leader and former Member of Parliament from the Mumbai North constituency, Sanjay Nirupam has made a political career by making crass comments against the other parties and their leaders. His meteoric rise in Congress party though could also be attributed to his closeness with the Nehru-Gandhi family members and his all weather appreciation capacity for any act by the Gandhi scion.
There are countless times when Sanjay Nirupam has crossed the line of decency and has made vulgar and crass comments in the past against BJP leaders but probably what would hound him the most in the days to come would be the one which he made against BJP leader Smriti Irani. During the course of a live debate on a news channel in 2012, Nirupam had crossed all limits of common courtesy and decency when he said to Smriti Irani, “You used to charge money to perform dance shows on television, and now you have become an election analyst.” Nirupam was a MP when he made the snide remark which was derogatory and belittling in nature towards the popular BJP leader.
Nirupam had been publically shamed and derided by common people and other politicians alike for his remark. The people from his constituency punished him for his stupid and derogatory remarks ousting him in the Lok Sabha 2014 elections by a huge margin of 4.5 lakh votes. This was not the only punishment that would be meted out to Nirupam. Smriti Irani had filed a defamation case against the then Congress MP in 2013 in New Delhi for using “indecent language”. It is regarding this case that the trials on Thursday were held in Delhi’s Patiala House Court whose hearings were to be followed on Friday. Sanjay Nirupam had also filed a defamation case against the Union Minister whose trials too are to be heard by the same bench.
Smriti Irani through her resilience in this matter has set a precedent which should be followed by other BJP leaders and their allies too. Arvind Kejriwal and the likes of him have gotten away too easily after raising baseless allegations against top BJP leaders. It is quite okay in a democracy to criticise the policy or the person but it should be done in a cultured manner and not in the crass language which Nirupam and Kejriwal use. Smriti Irani has not deterred from her stand in this case and it is commendable that she is adamant on her stand to punish a person who passes derogatory and cheap comments against a leader, a politician but first and foremost against a woman.