Smriti was speaking at the Words Count festival here in a discussion titled ‘Scripting Her Story, From Star to Star Campaigner’. A member of the audience asked her when would one see her as a “pradhan sevak” (prime servant), a title often used by Modi to describe his role as the head of the Union government.
“Never. I entered politics to work under charismatic leaders. I was very lucky to work under the leadership of late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I am currently serving under Modi ji,” Irani replied. “The day ‘pradhan sevak’ Narendra Modi decides to hang his boots, I will also leave Indian politics,” she said.
“I decide for myself how much of my life I will give for my country, my society. In an independent country, if I cannot take a decision for myself, what is the use of that independence?” she said.
On whether she did not wish to serve under leaders other than Modi, the textile minister said, “Am I not currently working under leaders like Rajnath Singh ji, Nitin Gadkari ji? There are leaders with whom I have worked within the organisation for the last 18 years. I also had the opportunity to work under leaders like Vajpayee and L K Advani.”
“You are presuming Modi won’t be there for long, but let me tell you, he is going to be around for very, very long years,” she told the audience.