Headlines
Smriti Irani denies appointing RSS-affiliated people
New Delhi, April 18
Human Resource Development
Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday denied that she was appointing people
with personal, political and ideological affiliation to the Rastriya
Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) in her ministry.
"Do people have no right
to job merely because they hold a right-wing opinion? Should a person be
denied an appointment because he is holding a certain personal
political views closure to RSS? Nobody with a personal, political and
ideological affiliation to RSS is appointed knowingly," Irani said in an
interwiew with Times Now channel.
Asked about the appointment
Dina Nath Batra as the head of Indian Council of Historical Research
(ICHR), she said, "When professor Batra was appointed as national
professor by the then HRD minister Arjun Singh, he was secular but
becomes communal when Smriti Irani appoints him."
Irani rubbished
the impression that she was being cornered in the BJP, saying: "I enjoy
the confidence of the senior party leaders like Arun Jaitley, Rajnath
Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu in the party."
"My exclusion from
the BJP national executive committee was the decision of the party and
should not be seen as her being undercut in the party," she added.
"Well
it's the prerogative of my party....it was they who made me a minister
at the age of 38. I never demanded any position. I am not a decision
maker and it's upto them whatever they decide for everyone. I am just a
party karyakarta (worker)," she said.