Modi clears air about marital status in affidavit
AHMEDABAD: A d ay after Narendra Modi publicly stated he is married, inviting derisive remarks from the Congress, his elder brother Somabhai tried to contain the attack by saying the marriage should be seen as a “social formality”.
Having long avoided questions on his personal life, Modi acknowledged his marriage to Jashodaben for the first time in his affidavit filed along with his nomination papers in Vadodara on Wednesday.
He had been consistently leaving blank that column till now.
The Congress has repeatedly called for Modi to disclose his marital status, following reports in recent years that he had an arranged marriage at the age of 17 to a woman whom he soon deserted but never officially divorced.
Critics say t he e pisode exposes his poor attitude towards women.
“Modi accepts his Marital Status. Can Women of this Country trust a Man who ... deprives his wife of her right?” Congress’ general secretary Digvijaya Singh tweeted.
Modi wrote “not known” in the affidavit as to further infor- mation on his wife. Jashoda Chiman Modi, now a retired schoolteacher, lives frugally on a monthly pension of ` 14,000, according to an interview she gave to Indian Express newspaper recently.
She said Modi left her after three years, during which they spent some three months together, and they parted amicably.
Modi has told voters that he is not corruptible partly because he has no close family to enrich.
“Narendra was married to Jashodaben at a very young age by our parents, but it was only a formal ritual as Narendra left the house in those days itself,” Somabhai said.
He added Modi, after leaving the house, has not kept any contact with the family, as “service to the nation was his only religion”.
“His marriage was just a formality as he left the house soon after his marriage. Even Jashodaben has been living at her father’s home and spending her life working in the education sector,” Somabhai said.
“The incident (Modi’s marriage) which had occurred 45-50 years ago is to be seen in the background of a poor and traditionally orthodox family,” he said.