PM’s wife makes low-profile temple visits
HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wife Jashodaben Modi made surprise visits to a few temples in Telangana without any security cover over the last few days.
Accompanied by her brother and his wife, 65-year-old Jashodaben, who prefers to stay away from the public eye, landed in Hyderabad on Thursday evening and drove to Vikarabad town, about 100 km away from the state capital. She was provided accommodation by Baradi Ramesh, a former BJP councillor from Vikarabad.
“There was no information about her visit, even the police did not know. She did not even have a security cover around her,” Venkata Ramana, a local journalist, told Hindustan Times.
According to Ramana, the local BJP leader had a few connections in Gujarat through which he and his family met Jashodaben and asked her to visit Vikarabad’s famous Naga Devatha temple, of which Ramesh is a trustee. “She promised to come one day and suddenly she landed here on Thursday night,” Ramesh said.
Early on Friday morning, Jashodaben went to the temple and offered prayers to the deity. She also visited other local temples and offered fodder to cows on the temple premises and participated in the “anna danam” (poor feeding).
Jashodaben also garlanded a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar at Naga Devatha temple on his birth anniversary. “We installed the statue of Ambedkar in the temple, because we treat him like a god,” Ramesh said.
In her brief interaction with the local media, Jashodaben said she had heard about the Vikarabad temple and was planning to visit it for quite some time.
“I am happy that I could come here on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanthi,” she said. The 65-year-old said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was doing a commendable job and said she “confident that it would do much better work in the coming years”.
On Saturday, Jashodaben visited the famed Bhagyalaxmi temple abutting historic Charminar in Hyderabad.