Rahul Gandhi targets Modi with Mrs Modi
12 April 2014 12:18 AM GMT
On 9 April, Modi, in his poll affidavit as the BJP’s candidate from Vadodara in Gujarat, mentioned ‘Jashodaben’ as his wife while filing nomination. This is for the first time Modi has admitted officially that Jashodaben is his wife. Earlier, in the last four assembly elections which he had contested, he left the spouse column blank. Modi’s elder brother Somabhai Damodar Modi said his marriage was a formality and he gave it up to serve the country.
Modi’s admission in a poll affidavit that he is married to retired schoolteacher Jashodaben Chimanlal whom he separated from decades ago has created a ‘dirty’ war of words among political leaders.
Rahul, while addressing a rally at Jammu and Kashmir, said, ‘We don’t know how many elections he has fought. But for the first time he has admitted that he is a married person. In Delhi, his party talks about respecting women, but his wife’s name never found its way into the affidavit.’
On Friday, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) against Modi for hiding his marital status in earlier affidavits. ‘We have given a plea to the EC. In his affidavit in Vadodara, he (Modi) has informed that he is married. Prior to that, none of his affidavits mention this. It is hence proven those affidavits were wrong,’ union minister Kapil Sibal said.
Meanwhile, while reacting on Rahul’s comment, Modi who was addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh, said, ‘They are not willing to give an account of their own work and yet they go around the country asking Modi to explain himself.’
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, ‘There are several family issues of the Nehru-Gandhi family that we are aware of. Some of it is also recorded in documents. But we will not discuss it in public because we have a standard. Modi ji’s elder brother wrote a letter and made it clear that it was a child marriage. He then became a Sangh Pracharak. When the elder brother has clarified on the issue, why is the Congress raking it up?’
Jashodaben, 62, lives with her brother in a village in western Gujarat and is reportedly on a pilgrimage at present.
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