Intention was not to mislead

Acontrived o ut pouring of rage from the Congress on a candid admission in an affidavit by the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, was there for all to see. It did not surprise us in the BJP, as by now, it is well known that the ruling Congress is running out of steam in the run-up to the elections.

Mr Modi, born into a tradition-bound, not-sowell-off family, had an arranged marriage with a young woman when both of them were in their teens. However, wanting to find a role for himself in the service of the nation, Mr Modi left his family.

Much later, by the lady’s own admission, Mr Modi had exhorted her to study, work and serve the people. The lady and both their families had reconciled to the marriage that wasn’t! On this matter, the lady, when interviewed a few years ago, responded with great dignity. As adults, they did not try to make their marriage void, legally.

Mr Modi contested four elections before filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections 2014. Respecting the right to privacy of the lady concerned, in all earlier affidavits, Mr Modi left the spouse column blank. They were leading their lives separately in every sense of the word. Legally, leaving the column blank, till before September 2013, was acceptable. Even otherwise, there was no claim to a marriage either.

After September 2013, the law requires every column, not just the one about the spouse, to be filled in with appropriate information. Or else,

“Respecting the right to privacy of

the lady concerned, in all earlier affidavits Mr

Modi left the spouse column blank. They were leading their lives

separately in every sense of

the word.”

it is required to be filled in with ‘Not Applicable’ or ‘ Not Known’. The larger objective of the column on spouse, as I understand, is more to establish the financial status of the person — income, property etc.

In Mr Modi’s case, the name should not matter any way, because they had never lived together, ever. However, as said earlier, since they hadn’t made the marriage void in law, he stated her name in the column meant for spouse. The intention now and earlier was not to mislead or to say any untruth. This is all there is to the affidavit.

Disgracefully, the Congress made an allout personal attack. It was completely misplaced. If only their vice-president, their general secretary and all other minions did their home-work, they would not have had to shamefully retreat.

People emulate leaders, so leaders should live their lives with high levels of integrity. Having hidden the fact that he has been married for so many years, Mr Modi has let down the people he wishes to serve and must apologise to the women of the country. He is not only accountable to himself but to everyone in this country who he aspires to serve as a leader.

People would definitely like to know the reasons for keeping this a secret for so many years. I believe that any person contesting in any election should be prepared to have his or her entire life in the public domain. One needs to be transparent about it, particularly if one is contesting for the country’s top leadership position. In this regard, Mr Modi has discounted