Vadodara/Ahmedabad, Apr 10 (Daily Bhaskar): After a long delay, finally BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has declared that he is a married man. This has put Modi in a spot and now his brother Sombhai Damodardas Modi has issued a clarification saying Modi was married to Jashodaben over 45 years back when he was a minor and the family was poor and uneducated. "What happened 45-50 years ago should be seen in context with the circumstances of a poor and superstitious family," Sombhai Modi said, urging Indians to vote for his brother. Damodardas claimed that their family had married Modi off as a child, but he walked away; he only ever saw the entire country as his family and responsibility.
Married at 17 to a bride about his age, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi has admitted for the first time under oath that he has a wife.
In his nomination form for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, which he filed amid much fanfare on Wednesday, he entered the name of Jashodaben as his wife. She is a retired school teacher in Brahmanwada, a village about 35km from Modi's hometown, Vadnagar.
Now 63, the former RSS pracharak had left the column blank in the last four state assembly elections in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2012. This was first openly challenged in pamphlets distributed by Congress in January 2001 when Modi contested the by-election to the Rajkot-2 assembly seat, three months after becoming Gujarat CM.
I am married, admits Modi
Vadodara, Apr 10 (PTI): BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi here today in an affidavit filed before the Election Commission showed himself as a married man revealing that his wife's name is Jashodaben.
In an affidavit submitted along with his nomination papers filed today for Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, Modi for the first time stated that he is married.
So far, Modi used to leave the column of spouse which is to be filled in an affidavit as blank. He had kept the column as blank in 2012 Assembly elections as well.
However, for the 2014 Lok Sabha election affidavit, in the column where he has to declare assets in the name of his wife, Modi has written that he has no information on it.
Though he had filed the nomination papers this morning, the Vadodara district election authority put the affidavit on the display board of the Collectorate at midnight.
The affidavit has not been uploaded on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat till late in the night.
Earlier, Congress had said that Modi should come clean on his marital status while filing nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Vadodara LS seat which has been chosen by Modi from 26 constituencies of Gujarat is considered to be one of the safest seat.
Modi is also contesting election from Varanasi where he is challenging Aam Aadmi Party candidate Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' local MLA Ajay Rai.