The Candidate

Of all the things that his critics want to pin on him, the least fair is Narendra Modi’s marital status. When the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate filed his nomination, he was forced to admit the existence of his wife, Jashodaben. Though everyone has known about her for years, this official admission was scandalous enough to make global news. The Washington Post reported: “What explains a secret wife? According to Jashodaben’s accounting, she and Mr Modi were married when they were 17 and 18 due to an arrangement between their parents. They lived together for three years before separating, with Mr Modi reportedly going to travel the Himalayas, and never coming back.”

The paper then speculated that “what led Mr Modi away, it seems, was the teachings of the RSS, a strict Hindu organisation that is reported to require a vow of celibacy. Mr Modi’s time with the RSS eventually led to his leadership of India’s second largest political party, BJP, and his Hindu nationalism is seen as one key aspect of his popularity, though it’s also a key sticking point for his opponents, who accuse him of failing to prevent the 2002 massacre of nearly 2,000 Muslims.”

Almost everything here is wrong, from the RSS policies (they do not require any sort of vow and many pracharaks are married) to the number of those killed in the riots (just over a thousand of whom a quarter were Hindus). The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph of the United Kingdom also weighed in on the issue.