The political battle between the two heavy weights, Congress and BJP, took an ugly turn with Kapil Sibal and Rahul Gandhi questioning Narendra Modi over his personal life. Ever since Modi mentioned his wife’s name, for the first time in his political career, in his nomination papers, politicians from rival group launched a volley of unexpected attacks on him. Some politicians even went on to the extent of saying that Modi should not talk about women’s protection if he can’t honour his marital commitment towards his wife. The Congress is leaving no stones unturned to blow the minuscule issue out of proportion with Rahul Gandhi bringing it up during his rally in Dodha district of Jammu and Kapil Sibal filing a petition with Election Commission (EC) to take action against Modi for hiding his marital status for so long. Forced into marriage during his teenage years, he left his wife Jashodaben right after to serve RSS and has maintained his ‘single’ status over the years. The mention of his wife in his affidavit comes after the recent Supreme Court orders, which makes it mandatory to fill all the columns in a nomination form or it could be rejected by the EC.
The infighting among the political parties over non-serious issues is not new. However, the media should act responsible in such cases to make sure that not much leverage is given to such issues. For, it diverts the attention from the main issues at hand, and most importantly, it is a serious intrusion into the privacy of Jashodaben, who has been living a peaceful life ever since her husband had abandoned her. What do politicians gain by raking up this matter in every election involving Modi? Is it too important a matter to bring up at an election rally? Is it right on the part of politicians to target each other over their personal lives when the country has so much more important to talk about? Why is it that the mention of Narendra Modi’s wife generates more curiosity among the media and politicians than it generates among the masses?