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Anandiben Patel (73) was on Wednesday elected the first woman chief minister of Gujarat by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The announcement came after BJP’s prime minister-elect Narendra Modi resigned as chief minister.
At a meeting of BJP members of the Legislative Assembly, held at Town Hall in Gandhinagar, Patel’s name was proposed by Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, education minister in Modi’s Cabinet, and seconded by Modi aide Amit Shah, who was also believed to be in the race for the top post. Patel’s name was also seconded by leaders Nitin Patel and Ganpat Vasava.
Addressing her first speech after being announced as the next chief minister, an emotional Patel expressed gratitude to party leaders, including Modi, Shah, the party’s Gujarat in-charge Om Mathur and BJP’s central observer, Thawar Chand Gehlot, among others.
“I humbly thank the top leadership of the BJP for placing their faith in me for leading the state,” Patel said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I pursued my education while having to work in fields. That is how I learnt about farmers’ issues. After I finished studies, I became a teacher. During these times, I came to know about and took up issues related to children’s education and women’s welfare. Since the past 10 years, I have worked for the welfare of children and women as a minister by joining the BJP.”
Reminiscing about her growth in the party, Patel said it was the BJP’s tradition, values and culture that led to her growth as a minister. “Senior party leaders like L K Advani and Narendra Modi have always supported me. It is very difficult for women to work in politics. But in the BJP, women are encouraged to pursue active politics and this is facilitated by the party leaders. The party gave tickets to four women in the Lok Sabha elections and all four have won. Modi and other party leaders have put their faith in women and this faith will be honoured by us,” she said.
Praising Modi for strong governance and an effective system in the state, Patel said this model would be followed. “As you (Modi) have said, government is for the betterment of the poor. We will never allow any deviation in the development trajectory of Gujarat that you have set over the years. Your words have given us immense encouragement,” she said.
ANANDIBEN: TEACHER-TURNED-CM
* November 21, 1941: Born in Kharod village, 60 km north of Gandhinagar. Father Jethabhai was a teacher
* 1950: Anandiben's parents enrol her in a boys’ school from Classes V-VII. This incident creates a significant impact on her mind about the importance of education
* 1954: Moves to Visnagar and gets enrolled in N M High School in Class VIII, with only two girls in the entire school
* 1956: Receives Veerbala award for ranking first in Mehsana district school sports event
* 1960: Enrols for BSc at Science College in Pilwai, Visnagar
* 1967: Joins Mohniba Girls’ School as a science and maths teacher. Serves here for 30 years
* 1986: Appointed principal of Mohniba Girls' School
* 1987: Saves two students from drowning in river Narmada. Later, felicitated with Gallantry Award by the Gujarat Governor
* 1992 Joins Ekta Yatra of Bharatiya Janata Party from Kanyakumari to Srinagar when terrorists threaten the people in Kashmir against hoisting the national flag
* 1994 Elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Remains MP till 1998. Resigns to contest state Assembly polls
* 1998 Contests from the Mandal Assembly seat. Emerges victorious over her nearest rival by 3,029 votes. Made minister of education and women and child welfare departments in Keshubhai Patel govt
* 2002 Party fields her from the Patan Assembly constituency. Wins again. Becomes education, sports, culture and youth affairs minister
* 2007 Wins again from Patan seat. Holds revenue, disaster management, women and child welfare department portfolio
* 2012 Anti-incumbency forces party to shift her from Patan to Ghatlodia Assembly seat. Wins by the highest margin of 110,395 votes
* 2014 Unanimously elected as leader of BJP legislature party. Becomes the first woman chief minister of Gujarat
