Unto each charmed life some rain must fall and what was a distant drizzle has become a somewhat insistent shower for prime minister Narendra Modi going by the developments on the marital front. Like a fuzzy picture becoming clearer and clearer in the photo lab, his wife Jashodaben, who has lived in obscurity all these years, has now become a real person to many of us. And the burden of the song which has put her in the limelight is her RTI application seeking the details of her security.
The lady who still seems to harbor hopes that she will be reunited with her famous husband speaks of how frightened she is with her security detail which apparently follows her in cars even as she takes the local transport. This is a case of suffering all the headaches of being the PM's wife without the privileges of the actual position. In fact, had it not been for the bloodhound like tendencies of the media, we may never really have known that Jashodaben existed.
In many ways, her apprehensions are right. Now that she has become a public figure so to speak, there is every chance that her life is in danger. In which event, she needs much more security than a few guards rattling around near her home. She is entitled to the highest level of security, the same as her husband. She should be housed in secure premises. It is entirely possible that she is trying to say just this when she objects to her security arrangements.
It may be far-fetched to fear assassination as happened with Indira Gandhi, but it is quite possible that someone looking for 15 minutes of fame could pose a threat to her. Now that she has made this a public issue, the government must act to move her to a more appropriate home. She herself seems ambivalent about what she wants. On the one hand, she says she would go like a shot if her husband were to summon her, on the other, she chafes at the security. You can have it both ways, dear lady. So the halfway house would be to accept a more secure accommodation and wait for that elusive call some day.
(The views expressed are personal.)
Lalita Panicker, the Hindustan Times.
Jashodaben's security
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s estranged wife Jashodaben Modi filed an Right To Information (RTI) application seeking details of the official order under which the government provided her with security, and the facilities she was entitled to by virtue of being the PM’s wife.
“I filed the application asking for details about my security and what else I am entitled to,” Jashodaben told HT.
Jashodaben, a retired school teacher who lives with her brother in a north Gujarat village, filed the well-drafted, three-page application herself on Monday at the Mehsana superintendent of police’s (SP) office.
The application came two days after Jashodaben gave an interview to a Mumbai-based tabloid in which she said, “If he (Modi) calls me once, I will go with him.”
After Modi took over as PM in May, the Gujarat government provided Jashodaben with four commandos at her residence. They tail her wherever she goes, including during her recent trip to Mumbai.
In her application, Jashodaben states: “I, the petitioner, who is the wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi… travel by public transport while my bodyguards travel by official vehicle.”
“I should be provided a certified copy of the order under which security is provided to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's family members, brothers, sisters and me,” she stated, while asking for details to be given within 48 hours as the issue pertains to a life and death matter.
Elaborating, she cites the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her own commandos. “The commandos assigned to me have no official order by which they have been posted at my residence,” the application says.
“Since Narendra Modi himself has acknowledged her as his wife in his election nomination form, she is the first lady (sic) and is entitled to get all facilities like Manmohan Singh’s wife used to get from the government,” Jashodaben’s brother, Ashok Modi, told HT.
He added that the government should provide his sister with a car and female commandos as she was not comfortable with an all-male security detail.
“She deserves to be with Narendrabhai in Delhi because he is no longer an RSS pracharak. He is the Prime Minister of India now,” Ashok Modi said.
Mehsana SP JR Mothalia confirmed that the PM’s wife had indeed filed an RTI. “Today, she came to our office and filed an RTI to know about her rights as PM's wife with regard to security cover. We will give our written reply to her within the stipulated time," he said.