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VADODARA: Married at 17 to a bride about his age, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi has admitted for the first time under oath that he has a wife.
In his nomination form for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, which he filed amid much fanfare on Wednesday, he entered the name of Jashodaben as his wife. She is a retired school teacher in Brahmanwada, a village about 35km from Modi's hometown, Vadnagar.
Now 63, the former RSS pracharak had left the column blank in the last four state assembly elections in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This was first openly challenged in pamphlets distributed by Congress in January 2001 when Modi contested the by-election to the Rajkot-2 assembly seat, three months after becoming Gujarat CM.
His opponents hope that this disclosure will dent his popularity among women who might empathize with Jashodaben, whom he never returned to after two weeks of their nuptials.
The declaration is reported to have come after strict legal advice that he come clean on the marriage which, his family members say, was never consummated.
As per the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every candidate is required to declare even assets held in the name of the spouse. In his nomination form, Modi has said he has no information about Jashodaben's income, IT returns and PAN details.
The Supreme Court in November last year had refused to entertain a PIL accusing Modi of leaving the column on marital status blank in the nomination papers for the Maninagar assembly seat in 2012.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the plea on the ground that such issues should be dealt with by the Election Commission. This time the EC had said that candidates must fill every column of the declaration or face the risk of disqualification.
In the run-up to Modi filing his nomination papers, there had been intense speculation as to how he would describe his marital status. Addressing a rally at Sujanpur in Himachal Pradesh in mid-February, Modi had said, "I have no familial ties, who would I ever try to benefit through corruption?" To which Arvind Kejriwal had responded by saying, "Modi has told us that 'I'm not married, I don't have a family. Why will I want to indulge in corruption? 'But nobody looks after me like my wife. She takes care of me and if I ever do something wrong, she stops me."
Modi also listed his assets — amounting to about Rs 1.50 crore — in his nomination form. They include cash in hand worth Rs 29,700, bank deposits of about Rs 44 lakh, infrastructure bonds of Rs 20,000 and National Savings Certificates worth Rs 4.34 lakh. He had purchased real estate worth Rs 2.47 lakh, the market value of which is now about Rs 1 crore.
Jashodaben is my wife, Narendra Modi admits under oath - The Times of India
After Modi admits he was married, his brother says it was a 'social formality'
AHMEDABAD: Seeking to contain a controversy over Narendra Modi's marital status, his elder brother Somabhai on Thursday said that the BJP prime ministerial candidate's marriage should be seen as a "social formality" which happened nearly 50 years ago.
Modi acknowledged his marriage to Jashodaben for the first time in his affidavit filed along with his nomination papers in Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday, which has invited derisive remarks from the Congress. In the state assembly polls, he had left blank the column about spouse.
In a statement sent to the media by the BJP, Somabhai said, "Our parents had not studied much and we were a poor family. To them Narendra was like any other child. In such context our parents conducted his marriage in a tender age with Jashodaben, but it turned out to be just a social formality for the sake of it."
"Modi, after leaving the house has not kept any contact with the family," Somabhai said, adding, "Service to the nation was his only religion. So he left home and this material world. 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.
Somabhai said that Narendra Modi's current status should not be evaluated on the basis of "an incident" that had occurred 45 to 50 years ago.
Praising his younger brother, he said, "Narendrabhai was different amongst the six siblings. His interest in the service to the nation was quite apparent to us.
"But nobody could have estimated the intensity of his idea of service to the nation. He was also very influenced with the sacrifice and dedication of Swami Vivekananda and Lord Gautam Buddha."
Somabhai said that his younger brother had left the house and the family because he believed in the concept of 'world is a family'.
Modi's family members did not know much about him as he has never maintained active contact with them after he left the house, he said.
In Wednesday's affidavit Modi has stated that he has no information about the assets and liabilities of his wife.
His other brother Prahlad said that Modi has never denied that he is a married man and in the earlier election forms he had kept the column of wife blank.
"He has never denied it (marriage). In the earlier election (affidavits) the column (about spouse) would have been left blank due to some reasons. Whether he did it intentionally or not that is his personal issue," Modi's Prahlad said.
After Modi admits he was married, his brother says it was a 'social formality' - The Times of India
As usual, there will be 2 ways of looking at this now :
1) Feel sad that he lied in all the past elections about his marital status.
2) Feel good that he spoke the truth atleast now, before getting ready to rule the nation.
In his nomination form for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, which he filed amid much fanfare on Wednesday, he entered the name of Jashodaben as his wife. She is a retired school teacher in Brahmanwada, a village about 35km from Modi's hometown, Vadnagar.
Now 63, the former RSS pracharak had left the column blank in the last four state assembly elections in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This was first openly challenged in pamphlets distributed by Congress in January 2001 when Modi contested the by-election to the Rajkot-2 assembly seat, three months after becoming Gujarat CM.
His opponents hope that this disclosure will dent his popularity among women who might empathize with Jashodaben, whom he never returned to after two weeks of their nuptials.
The declaration is reported to have come after strict legal advice that he come clean on the marriage which, his family members say, was never consummated.
As per the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every candidate is required to declare even assets held in the name of the spouse. In his nomination form, Modi has said he has no information about Jashodaben's income, IT returns and PAN details.
The Supreme Court in November last year had refused to entertain a PIL accusing Modi of leaving the column on marital status blank in the nomination papers for the Maninagar assembly seat in 2012.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the plea on the ground that such issues should be dealt with by the Election Commission. This time the EC had said that candidates must fill every column of the declaration or face the risk of disqualification.
In the run-up to Modi filing his nomination papers, there had been intense speculation as to how he would describe his marital status. Addressing a rally at Sujanpur in Himachal Pradesh in mid-February, Modi had said, "I have no familial ties, who would I ever try to benefit through corruption?" To which Arvind Kejriwal had responded by saying, "Modi has told us that 'I'm not married, I don't have a family. Why will I want to indulge in corruption? 'But nobody looks after me like my wife. She takes care of me and if I ever do something wrong, she stops me."
Modi also listed his assets — amounting to about Rs 1.50 crore — in his nomination form. They include cash in hand worth Rs 29,700, bank deposits of about Rs 44 lakh, infrastructure bonds of Rs 20,000 and National Savings Certificates worth Rs 4.34 lakh. He had purchased real estate worth Rs 2.47 lakh, the market value of which is now about Rs 1 crore.
Jashodaben is my wife, Narendra Modi admits under oath - The Times of India
After Modi admits he was married, his brother says it was a 'social formality'
AHMEDABAD: Seeking to contain a controversy over Narendra Modi's marital status, his elder brother Somabhai on Thursday said that the BJP prime ministerial candidate's marriage should be seen as a "social formality" which happened nearly 50 years ago.
Modi acknowledged his marriage to Jashodaben for the first time in his affidavit filed along with his nomination papers in Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday, which has invited derisive remarks from the Congress. In the state assembly polls, he had left blank the column about spouse.
In a statement sent to the media by the BJP, Somabhai said, "Our parents had not studied much and we were a poor family. To them Narendra was like any other child. In such context our parents conducted his marriage in a tender age with Jashodaben, but it turned out to be just a social formality for the sake of it."
"Modi, after leaving the house has not kept any contact with the family," Somabhai said, adding, "Service to the nation was his only religion. So he left home and this material world. 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.
Somabhai said that Narendra Modi's current status should not be evaluated on the basis of "an incident" that had occurred 45 to 50 years ago.
Praising his younger brother, he said, "Narendrabhai was different amongst the six siblings. His interest in the service to the nation was quite apparent to us.
"But nobody could have estimated the intensity of his idea of service to the nation. He was also very influenced with the sacrifice and dedication of Swami Vivekananda and Lord Gautam Buddha."
Somabhai said that his younger brother had left the house and the family because he believed in the concept of 'world is a family'.
Modi's family members did not know much about him as he has never maintained active contact with them after he left the house, he said.
In Wednesday's affidavit Modi has stated that he has no information about the assets and liabilities of his wife.
His other brother Prahlad said that Modi has never denied that he is a married man and in the earlier election forms he had kept the column of wife blank.
"He has never denied it (marriage). In the earlier election (affidavits) the column (about spouse) would have been left blank due to some reasons. Whether he did it intentionally or not that is his personal issue," Modi's Prahlad said.
After Modi admits he was married, his brother says it was a 'social formality' - The Times of India
As usual, there will be 2 ways of looking at this now :
1) Feel sad that he lied in all the past elections about his marital status.
2) Feel good that he spoke the truth atleast now, before getting ready to rule the nation.
After neglecting his wife for 50 years, he suddenly realizes he has one
