Smriti Irani
Politician and Former Union Minister
Television soap star turned senior BJP politician and former Union Minister who champions AI as a great democratiser — casting it as a woman’s ideal “saarthi,” or guide, into the digital economy.
In her words
Like Lord Krishna was Arjuna’s saarthi, there is no better saarthi for a woman than artificial intelligence.
Biography
Smriti Irani (born 1976) became a household name across India as Tulsi in the long-running soap opera Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi before entering politics, rising through the BJP to serve as Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles until 2024.
AI as a woman’s “saarthi”
At the Tata “AI Sakhi” event tied to the India AI Impact Summit in February 2026, Irani cast artificial intelligence as an engine of inclusion for rural and self-help-group women. Invoking the Bhagavad Gita, she compared AI to the charioteer who guided Arjuna — a mentor that “does not mount the chariot, it mounts the mobile phone.”
Don’t restrict yourselves to the role of a passenger, you must control the steering wheel of the vehicle of development.
Her enthusiasm came with a caveat: she urged participants to treat AI outputs as fallible and to guard personal details such as Aadhaar numbers and bank credentials — an optimism tempered by basic digital caution.
Where they stand in the war
Who backs them up
Sources & further reading
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/smriti-irani