Smriti Irani spent the second anniversary of her party coming to power in the constituency of Amethi, which she lost much more than just respectably in 2014 to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
Ms Irani said that her own example proves how open the Prime Minister is to feedback and his willingness to forgive mistakes. After communal riots in 2002 in Gujarat, she publicly attacked him and sought his resignation as Chief Ministser. "At that time, I was just a young kid," she said, while Mr Modi was "a star of the BJP".
"He could very well have told the organization that this upstart of a girl has said something, kindly have her sacked, or kindly put her in a place from where she never politically rises," she said.
Instead, Ms Irani recalled, "He sat down with me, he said, 'Tell me how you reached this conclusion.'" When she replied that she had been influenced by what was reported in the media, she says Mr Modi replied, "Don't judge me by editorials" and then advised her, "You ensure you see me by the programs that I roll out, see my by the effectiveness, or if there is a gap, tell me what the gap in that program is, help me work so that I can deliver on the promise of development."
