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Did Union Minister Smriti Irani Really Whistle In Parliament? 

While the Union Minister did whistle, she did so at a convocation ceremony – not in Parliament.

Updated
WebQoof
2 min read
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After Rahul Gandhi’s hug and wink in Parliament became the talk of the town and part of a lot of memes, yet another image is going around on WhatsApp groups.

A picture collage of Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani is being shared in which one of the pictures show Irani whistling. The text accompanying the picture claims that the minister whistled in the Parliament. The text says that is Rahul’s hug and wink were disrespectful to the House, then what about Irani’s wink?

One of our readers sent us the image, asking whether Smriti Irani actually whistled in the Parliament or whether the image is fake.

While the Union Minister did whistle, she did so at a convocation ceremony – not in  Parliament.
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We searched for the image on social media and found a few handles sharing it on Twitter, calling BJP supporters ‘नारंगी खटमलों’ (saffron bugs). One of them is a handle @NNaseemahmad071 who describes himself as part of the Congress party.

When you click on Ahmad’s tweet, you can see that the account has been restricted by Twitter.

While the Union Minister did whistle, she did so at a convocation ceremony – not in  Parliament.
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But this incident did not take place in the parliament. A Times of India article dated 18 October 2017 gives a detailed account of the day when Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani whistled as part of her effort to cheer the NIFT graduates in attendance. The report says that the impressed students reciprocated her act.

“Amid the cheering of students for the passing out batch that was on stage, Smriti put her fingers into her mouth and let out a loud whistle, and the whole gathering followed,” reported The Times of India.
While the Union Minister did whistle, she did so at a convocation ceremony – not in  Parliament.

Those forwarding this image were trying to make a political point as the BJP had condemned Rahul Gandhi’s sudden act to hug Prime Minister Narendra Modi post his speech in the parliament. Even the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan made her displeasure clear and urged lawmakers to maintain the decorum and sanctity of the House.

In fact, one of the BJP MPs, Nishikant Dubey, took his dislike for the unsolicited hug to a bizarre level when he told reporters that the BJP leaders were afraid of hugging Rahul because their wives might divorce them.

(This article has been published in an arrangement with BOOM Live.)

(Not convinced of a story you came across on social media and want it verified? Send us the details at WebQoof@TheQuint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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