Did Smriti Irani call goddess Durga a 'sex worker'? Here's the truth

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A video has been doing rounds on social media claiming that HRD Minister Smriti Irani called goddess Durga a ‘sex worker’.
In a 35 second video that is being circulated, she can be heard saying, “Durga Puja is the most controversial racial festival, where a fair-skinned beautiful goddess Durga is depicted brutally killing a dark-skinned native called Mahishasur. Mahishasur, a brave self-respecting leader, tricked into marriage by Aryans. They hired a sex worker called Durga, who enticed Mahishasur into marriage and killed him after nine nights of honeymooning during sleep.”

FACT CHECK

When NewsMobile fact-checked the video, we found it to be misleading.
On taking the screengrab of the video and putting it through Reverse Image Search, we found that the video is from 2016 while Smriti Irani was addressing the Lok Sabha.
We found the original video that is 48:58 minutes long, was uploaded by Bharatiya Janata Party on their YouTube channel titled “Smt. Smriti Irani’s speech in reply to debate on JNU and Rohith Vemula issues – 24.02.2016.”

After listening to to the entire video we gather that the clip is taken out of context and is extremely misleading.
The viral clip has been taken from 31: 50 minutes to 32:14 of the original video. In the video, HRD Minister Smriti Irani is referring to a pamphlet posted in JNU commemorating “Mahishasura Martyrdom Day”
Here’s the transcript of the relevant clip ( from 30:50 – 32: 25), ” What is Mahishasur Martyrdom Day, madam speaker? Our government has been accused. I miss today Sugata Bose and Saugata Roy in the House – champions of free speech because I want to know if they will discuss this particular topic which I am about to enunciate in the House, on the streets of Kolkata. I dare them this.
Posted on October 4, 2014. A statement by the SC, ST and minority students of JNU. And what do they condemn? May my God forgive me for reading this.
Durga Puja is the most controversial racial festival, where a fair-skinned beautiful goddess Durga is depicted brutally killing a dark-skinned native called Mahishasur. Mahishasur, a brave self-respecting leader, tricked into marriage by Aryans. They hired a sex worker called Durga, who enticed Mahishasur into marriage and killed him after nine nights of honeymooning during sleep.”
The above information proves that Irani was actually reading out a pamphlet and was those were not her own words. Hence the viral clip is highly misleading.

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