Smriti Irani

Smriti Irani is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Before joining mainstream politics, Smriti had worked as a television actress, model and producer. In her political career, the turning point came when she won the election from Amethi in 2019. Amethi constituency had been a bastion of Indian National Congress (INC) since several decades. Over the years, the Amethi seat has been won by various Congress leaders such as Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and most recently Rahul Gandhi.

Smriti Irani had contested from Amethi in 2014 also, but at that time she was defeated by Rahul Gandhi with a comfortable margin of more than 90k votes. However, things changed in favor of Smriti in 2019 general elections, when she defeated Rahul Gandhi by a margin of more than 55k votes. It is said that INC had an inkling about Rahul’s potential defeat in Amethi, which is why Rahul had contested from Wayanad (Kerala) also. The decision saved Rahul from trouble, as he won from Wayanad by a huge margin.

By winning the Amethi constituency, Smriti has emerged as a powerful leader in BJP. She is currently a Cabinet Minister in central government.

Early Life and Education

Smriti Irani was born on March 23, 1976 in New Delhi to Shri Ajay Kumar Malhotra and Smt. Shibani Bagchi. She received education at Holy Child Auxilium, Delhi and School of Correspondence and Continuing Education, University of Delhi. Her marriage took place in 2001 to Zubin Irani, who is a Parsi businessman.

Political Career

Smriti Irani had been a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since an early age. Her mother was a member of Jana Sangh and her grandfather was an RSS swayamsevak.

• 2011: Elected to Rajya Sabha
• 2011 – May 2014: Member, Standing Committee on Coal and Steel
• 2012 – May 2014: Member, Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management; Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Urban Development
• 27 May 2014 – 5 July 2016: Union Cabinet Minister, Human Resource Development
• 5 July 2016 – 18 July 2017: Union Cabinet Minister, Textiles
• 18 July – 2017 – 14 May 2018: Union Cabinet Minister, Information and Broadcasting
• 2017: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (Second term)
• 2017 – 24 May 2019: Member, Rajya Sabha
• May, 2019: Elected to 17th Lok Sabha
• 30 May 2019 onwards: Union Cabinet Minister, Women and Child Development; and Textiles

Personal Pursuits

In her free time, Smriti Irani likes to listen to music or play carom. She has a special liking for travelling and yoga.