From sarees to colleges to Rahul baba himself: Things Smriti Irani has gifted Amethi

Amethi was to Smriti Irani, what the IPL was to Sourav Ganguly - a one-sided affair, some would say. Like Ganguly and IPL never really hit it off, Amethi never really warmed up to Irani as she would have liked. In an election when the BJP felled Congress behemoths everywhere, Irani lost to Rahul Gandhi by more than a lakh votes in Amethi. Her defeat was a bit of a shocker given Narendra Modi campaigned for her and made her sound like the best thing since kachoris. He even declared her his ‘choti behn’ and promised he would always be there for for her and her constituency. Sadly, she was defeated by the person who, almost single-handedly, reduced Congress to a regional party - Rahul Gandhi.

However, Ms Irani didn’t let the facepalm of truly epic proportions break her heart - of course, she got a plum ministry as a consolation prize. Like a good, selfless Bollywood second fiddle in a love triangle, she’s instead devoted herself to the very Amethi that abandoned her.

Her latest grand gesture: 15,000 sarees to be distributed among the women of Amethi.

The Times of India reports, “Call it a Diwali gift or a thanksgiving gesture with one eye on future polls, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani has got about 15,000 saris, sourced from Surat, distributed to women in the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. Around 2,500 saris, still in stock with Irani’s representatives, will be distributed to women in far-flung areas.”

Impressed by Mrs Irani’s ‘Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki’ act, we decided to look at what other gifts she has showered on (not-her) constituency.

1. No, Amethi women - whose neighbours and possibly relatives voted for the Gandhi who shouldn’t be named  - won’t be lucky enough to have the Prime Minister tied to their pallu. But they get the second best option, conceptualized by Irani herself. A sari from Surat, the PM’s home state, stuffed into a package with the PM’s smiling face printed on it! Maybe they can repurpose the bag for sabzi shopping in true Swachh Bharat style.

2. In June, The Times of India reported that Irani met Railways Minister Sadanand Gowda and requested him to fast-track all the projects the UPA had announced for Amethi. She even asked Gowda to make sure that trains rushing past Amethi stop more often at her adopted hometown. So basically, Irani trolled Rahul Gandhi in the constituency by underlining exactly what he didn’t do. She also had a message for the one lakh people who didn’t vote for her, “Hello, this is who you didn’t vote for. That’s me!”.

3. A university which was supposed to come up in Rae Bareli, might just now come up in Amethi, if Irani has her way. According to reports, Irani has pushed for the proposed Indira Gandhi National University for women to be relocated to Rae Bareli. Again, she reminded the women of Amethi what they need - a university, not an occasional dimple-sighting!

4. And the gift of all gifts, Irani let Amethi have their darling Rahul Gandhi!  Given how the man disappeared from the face of the rest of the earth after the elections, Amethi would have missed him quite a bit no? At least Gandhi visited his constituency recently , even as Twitter launched a man-hunt for him. Had he not won, Amethi would have possibly missed any sighting of their favourite man! Besides, thanks to her diligent attention, Irani has made sure Amethi gets more frequent darshans of their non-resident Gandhi.A little jealousy never hurt a true romance.