They seem to be made for each other. Both stand for trademark tradition and the values of the Parivar. Meet the ideal Hindu naari of soap world, Tulsi of Kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi fame, the BJP’s latest tinsel mascot.Smriti Irani nee Malhotra is in august company — Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Nitish Bhardwaj, Dara Singh, Deepika Chikhalia and Arvind Trivedi. Her new political family is as warm as the Viranis too. BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan saw to the formalities of admitting her while party vice-president Gopinath Munde, general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and spokesman Prakash Javadekar ushered her to a news conference to announce her membership. Husband Zubbin Irani watched on as she went up the stage, assumed an all new political role.Once there, Smriti took over with the ease of a joint family matron.‘‘Tulsi, the character you are playing right now, is currently in a state of memory loss. Are you sure you haven’t walked into the BJP office in this mental state?’’ a reporter shot off.‘‘Bilkul nahin jee! I have joined the BJP because it maintains a certain political tradition and takes the views of all its members on key issues. It gives an opportunity to its members to do things they want to, for people. I want to work for the welfare of women and children. I will work for the enforcement of laws meant for ensuring safety and respect for women and protect children against exploitation,’’ Smriti replied, without batting an eyelid.A reporter drew her attention to a remark by Naqvi that ‘‘it was a question of swadeshi and videshi bahu’’ (an allusion to Tulsi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi). ‘‘It is not against against a person. We have to think of our country as a whole. We give a lot of respect to women. But, it is a question of the self-esteem of our people. Are we ready to be ruled by a foreign-born person?’’ Smriti replied in true Parivar mode.While she would campaign for BJP candidates in the Assembly polls, in the long run, she wished to work among the people at the grassroots ‘‘who are not disillusioned with the system’’. It was ‘‘very easy to point fingers at politcians’’, she said but few would venture out to do something by themselves.Tulsi will continue, though. ‘‘ I will continue to act in serials. Many people depend on these serials for a living and I can not abandon them mid-stream.”
