Rare pictures of Smriti Irani, the union HRD minister

New Delhi: Smriti Irani is presently the union minister for Human Resource Development in Modi government.In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Smriti Irani had been handpicked by Narendra Modi to challenge Rahul Gandhi from Amethi parliamentary constituency. Despite losing the battle, she fought well and gave him a tough time.Smriti Irani was born, the eldest of three sisters to a Delhi based family. Her father is a Punjabi and her mother is a Bengali, related to Tripti Mitra a well known Bengali actress of yesteryears. Smriti's father owned a courier business.Smriti Irani is married to her childhood friend Zubin Irani.She is the mother of Zohr Irani and Zoish Irani, and step mother to Shanelle Irani who is Zubin's daughter from an earlier marriage with model coordinator Mona Irani. Zubin Irani is Zoroastrian.Recently she was caught in the web because of her education qualification. Politicians of the rival parties scorned at Modi's decision to give charge of the HRD Ministry to Smriti despite her being only 12th pass.But Narendra Modi has firm faith in Smriti who he considers as his sister. Smriti Irani has proved to him that she is not just the perfect ‘mother and bahu' of Hindi soapsShe is hardworking and is willing to learn and utilize her energy for the role she has been assigned. Smriti Zubin Irani is better known as ‘Tulsi Virani' of ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', India's one of the most successful soap operas.The most interesting thing about Smriti Irani is that she always follows her heart and acts accordingly. No matter what she does, it gets her instant fame and popularity.Smriti Irani started working at the age of 16. Then she decided to take up modeling. Her parents were utterly shocked when she expressed her desire to join Miss India contest.Even though she didn't win, she was the finalist of the beauty pageant Femina Miss India 1997.After this, Smriti Irani left home and arrived in Mumbai – the city of dreams for anyone who aspires to be an actor in the Indian film industry.Life in Mumbai is extremely difficult and it is extremely expensive too when it comes to finding accommodation. So she started working as a waitress in McDonalds.She had to serve burgers and swab the floors and clean tables. Meanwhile, Smriti auditioned for advertisements, films and serials. She got her first break in a TV show ‘Ooh La La' as the host.Later on Ekta Kapoor selected her for the role of Tulsi Virani in ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', a soap opera on Star Plus. Ekta showed confidence in Smriti despite the fact that all other members of her team rejected her.Ekta Kapoor put her foot down and asserted,” Smriti is my Tulsi.” Tulsi's role proved to be a turning point in Smriti's career and she never looked back. The rest, as we say, is history.Smriti holds the record of winning five consecutive Indian Television Academy Awards for Best Actress (Popular), four Indian Telly Awards, eight Star Parivaar Awards and other awards all for her performance in Kyunki.She is the only actress on Indian Television to have won five consecutive Indian Television Academy Awards.Smriti also played the role of Sita in Zee TV's Ramayan in 2001.But Smriti Irani in an interview said that her aim in life was not to be an actress. Se wanted to be a journalist. But she felt demoralized when a news channel rejected her. They said that she was not suitable for the job. Yet she didn't lose heart and decided to take up acting instead. Back in school, Smriti Irani was an excellent athlete. She also enjoys good music and was a prominent singer of her school. Smriti joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in the year 2003. She fought from Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency in both 2004 and 2009 but lost to Kapil Sibal both the times. Smriti was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2011.It is during this period that Narendra Modi noticed her work and strength. He acknowledged her efforts. Narendra Modi was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat. She was promoted as Vice president of the BJP in 2013. In 2004 Smriti Irani threatened to go on ‘fast unto death' until Modi resigned as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. This was in view of the 2002 Gujarat Riots.However she went back on her words when the BJP high command said that disciplinary action would be taken against her. Smriti Irani is always cautious of her actions. Ekta Kapoor had asked to play the role of a prostitute in one of her shows, but Smriti politely turned down her request. In the show Ek Thi Nayika, she was to play the role of a nautch girl who meets a witch.She requested Ekta to give her some other story that didn't involve singing or dancing, to which Ekta agreed.Smriti Irani feels that politicians must not be instruments of promoting superstition. That is why she took up a character opposite the witch. Smriti Irani is into a lot of social work too. She runs an NGO which deals with providing water solutions to villages.In the infamous 2012 Delhi gangrape case, Smriti Irani was one of those female politicians who were strongly condemned the attack and demanded capital punishment for the culprits.Smriti Irani is a master of several languages. She is fluent with Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali and English.One of Smriti Irani's most famous quotes is – “contesting elections is worth an experience of ten years in political history.”Smriti Irani's name goes down in history as a woman of strength in character.She is a good mother, wife and leader. She is a person who never fails to listen to her heart and is always willing to fight all obstacles that come her way.During the festival of the 2014 LokSabha Elections, Priyanka Gandhi had been asked a question on Smriti Irani.Priyanka Gandhi pretended as if she didn't know that a person with this name even existed.To this Narendra Modi lambasted her and declared that Smriti Irani was his sister. He said that if anyone didn't know her earlier, then they must know her now as she is his ‘sister'.Smriti Irani with Poonam Mahajan and Kirron Kher - All of them are Members of Parliament.Smriti Irani with Vinod KhannaSmriti Irani at the Miss India Beauty Pageant. She managed to be in the top five category.