Rahul Gandhi targets Narendra Modi over admission of marriage

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, April 11, 2014: Rahul Gandhi today targeted Narendra Modi after his admission in a poll affidavit that he is married to Jashodaben, a retired school teacher who he separated from decades ago.

"We don’t know how many elections he has fought, for the first time he has written that he is married," Mr Gandhi said, addressing a rally in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir.

The Congress vice president also referred to "Stalk-gate", or the alleged spying on a young woman in Gujarat in 2009, allegedly on the orders of the state government.

"They talk about respecting women in Delhi but his wife’s name never found its way to the affidavit... The Chief Minister’s total focus and the focus of the entire police force goes into snooping on one woman. Gujarat cops run after one woman because the CM wants to know what is happening. Then there’s a poster put up in Delhi saying respect women. What kind of respect is this?" Mr Gandhi said.

The BJP’s Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Rahul Gandhi should read the affidavit properly."

Mr Modi surprised many when, in his poll affidavit as the BJP’s candidate from Vadodara in Gujarat, he wrote the name "Jashodaben" in the column for spouse - a field he had left blank in the four assembly elections he contested in the past.

Jashodaben, 62, lives with her brother in a village in western Gujarat, and reportedly draws a monthly government teacher’s pension of Rs. 14,000. She once told a newspaper that she hadn’t seen her husband since he left three years into their marriage.

Mr Modi, who has ruled Gujarat since 2001, said in the affidavit that he has no information about his wife’s assets and other details. Many Congress leaders say Mr Modi’s nomination should be rejected and he should be punished for lying in past affidavits.(Full coverage; India Votes 2014)

Mr Modi’s older brother Somabhai Damodar Modi came to his defence, saying his marriage was a formality and he gave it up to serve the country.