In June when the Delhi summer heat starts peaking, and the new prime minister’s honeymoon period with the nation begins, where will Mrs Modi be? Her husband in absentia has acknowledged her for the first time in some 40 years.
While media and television cameras would have wanted to see the classic Anpad number Aap ki nazro ne samjha, pyar ke kabil hame, being sung, they have been disheartened. Mrs Modi, we have been told, is currently on pilgrimage, away from her brother’s house in Unjha, and is not expected to return till the election results are known.
True to the Indian tradition, all these years Jashodaben, wife of teenaged Modi, remained wedded to a name if not an idol. And, if the well-wishers are to be believed, the adarsh (ideal) Hindu wife is penancing—not eating rice and some say not wearing sandals to see her husband successfully into the RCR.
Her penance has been met at least half way. Whether you like it or not, media makes us believe that another “M” will be soon be moving into the 7 Race Course Road residence of country’s prime minister. Horses race regularly in front of 7 RCR, but this one race will make or break his chances of becoming prime minister.
And, this race happens only now or never for him. It may not be incorrect to say Mr Modi is already there with his heart and soul, perhaps dreaming as much about the lush green peacock inhabited lawns, as about the next line of attack on the Shaizada. Modi, after all, is the only official candidate who is fighting for prime ministership in this election for members of Parliament.
It is a script for a good Hindi movie except that ethical questions are being raised from both the sides. Some say leave the lady alone and don’t get personal.
Yet, there is merit on the other side since a prime minister-at-heart should come clear on his marital status; not because it is important to have a smiling family picture and a regular guy for a prime minister, but it is important to know the psyche of the person, who in the eyes of many, presided over one of the worst riots in the country.
Whether his dedication to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh took precedence over his responsibility towards his wife; whether the Gujarat leader who has caught the imagination of urban middle class for being a saviour respects simple human bonding; whether a man who walked into a marriage because his parents said so ever looked back and stood outside the peeled off walls of her Unjha house to just say a hello?
Whether the tea man travelled the corridors of power, unattached proclaiming it to be a proof of his clean non-corrupt image? Why should we accept a man speaking out of posters about women's safety and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save daughter, educate daughter) but forget his abandonment of his wife and even the alleged snooping on another women as mere personal matters.
Where is Mrs Modi, Mr Modi? Let’s know this and the man before he takes us off on the golden flight for a dream nation.
