The Instagram post has got more than 11,000 likes and nearly 400 comments. Close friend Ekta Kapoor called Smriti Irani a ‘rockkkkstaaaa’.
New Delhi: Smriti Irani is feeling silenced.
Responding to the backlash she received for her comments about women’s entry into the Sabarimala Temple, the Union Minister for Textiles has posted an Instagram picture of herself barely conscious and bound with ropes to a chair.
The image, complete with a cloth gag in her mouth, is a screen grab from her days playing Tulsi in Ekta Kapoor’s show Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Irani has captioned it: “#Hum bolega to bolega ki bolta hai (If I speak, they say I speak too much).”
In eight hours since it was posted, the post gathered over 11,000 likes and close to 400 comments, most notably from her friend Ekta Kapoor, calling Irani a “rockkkkstaaaa”.
Other comments with the most number of likes are from users expressing disappointment with Irani’s statements.
Also read: Smriti Irani on Sabarimala: Would you take blood-soaked sanitary napkin to a friend’s house?
“You should be ashamed of yourself. Women empowerment comes from women — by speaking this you have let us down,” a woman named Sukriti writes.
Another user named Kamal comments: “You people have made politics into a Saas Bahu Show. This is why India is going nowhere.” (sic)
The root of the controversy
Speaking at an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai Tuesday, Irani had responded to a question by saying: “I believe I have a right to pray, but I do not have the right to desecrate. And that is the difference, that we need to recognise and respect.
“So the difference is… I am nobody to speak of the Supreme Court verdict, because I am a current serving cabinet minister. But just plain common sense.
“Would you take sanitary napkins seeped in menstrual blood and walk into a friend’s home? You would not. Would you think it is respectful to do the same thing and walk into house of God? So that is the difference. I have the right to pray, I do not have the right to desecrate. That is my personal opinion.”
#WATCH Union Minister Smriti Irani says," I have right to pray,but no right to desecrate. I am nobody to speak on SC verdict as I'm a serving cabinet minster. Would you take sanitary napkins seeped in menstrual blood into a friend's home? No.Why take them into house of God?" pic.twitter.com/Fj1um4HGFk
— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2018
Her comments created a flurry on all social media platforms, including sparking a series of articles and opinions written in opposition to her stance.
Ms @smritiirani bodily functions are not dirty & do not desecrate. It is wilful intent to destroy that is desecration, like the intentional tearing down of a mosque. A menstruating woman who comes to a shrine in faith and is excluded on gender is in fact a desecration of religion
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) October 23, 2018
Smriti Irani must be the only woman in India to get a period leave. I mean she won't take her blood-soaked napkins inside the sacred walls of her ministry building. pic.twitter.com/W0Y0RaSyf7
— Rama S (@ramasriniv) October 23, 2018
This latest Instagram image follows a long Twitter thread that Irani posted in her defence Tuesday evening.
She argued that the media was twisting her words to misrepresent the context in which she spoke. Irani clarified that she mentioned ‘carrying’ a blood-soaked napkin to a friend’s house, and not anything about wearing one.
Since many people are talking about my comments — let me comment on my comment.
As a practising Hindu married to a practising Zoroastrian I am not allowed to enter a fire temple to pray.
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) October 23, 2018
“But what fascinates me though does not surprise me is that as a woman I am not free to have my own point of view. As long as I conform to the ‘liberal’ point of view I’m acceptable. How Liberal is that ??” she wrote.
A ‘victim’ of fake news
In the past week, news websites have also carried unverified reports that certain feminist activists were planning to enter the Sabarimala Temple with blood-soaked menstrual pads in hand.
Also read: Smriti Irani must know India is at a tipping point and women aren’t seeking permission
According to reports, Janam TV, a channel in Kerala known for its pro-Right views, had also aired a segment on 19 October claiming that activist and BSNL employee Rehana Fathima had informed her friends of her intention to carry a used sanitary napkin in her ‘irrumudi kettu’, the package carried by devotees on their pilgrimage to Sabarimala.
Although Irani didn’t refer to any of these news articles while making her statement, many Twitter replies defending her made the link.
That is not what @smritiirani said. She was clearly talking about an activist who wanted to smuggle a sanitary napkin into the temple only to provoke. Nothing dirty or cheap about sanitary napkin but does it belong in a temple or a dining table or living rooms of our homes? https://t.co/zQazSmcg49
— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) October 23, 2018
These news articles have since been proven to be false, and Fathima has also stated her intention to file a case against Janam TV.
Ms Irani, in the tradition of BJP members speaking lies, you have mentioned about waiting outside fire temple. I would like to know from you when were you allowed inside fire temple. Hindu wife of a parser is not allowed inside fire temple, though the children of a parser father are. I hope you learn to speak the truth in future.