Who cares about Modi’s marital status?

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. The Guardian said Mr Modi “told a biographer recently that he actually enjoys loneliness” and has said that because he has no children he is more likely to be a clean politician.

Is it fair to hold Mr Modi accountable for an event in which he was an unwilling participant? It was a marriage arranged for an underage couple between families. Mr Modi’s brother Damodar explained this quite clearly: “What happened 40-50 years ago should be seen in context with the circumstances of a poor and superstitious family.” And this week, Mr Modi’s defender Madhu Kishwar claimed that apparently the marriage wasn’t even consummated. Such openness is to be respected.

Former BJP man Mohan Guruswamy said: “Everyone knew he was married but had abandoned the woman. His admission though will open him to scrutiny and (legal) challenge. Half of India will think the worst of him for it, and the other half won’t mind. He will deal with it.”

Personally I do not think there are many Indians who will see Mr Modi’s plight unsympathetically. The Congress was rude, with spokesman Rashid Alvi saying: “If he can’t take care of his wife, how can he take care of the country?”

The fact is that one reason that Mr Modi is riding high in the opinion polls is that many people accept his statement that he doesn’t have anyone to promote nepotism. Even his immediate family, his brothers and their relatives, have not benefited from Mr Modi’s ascent to power.

I don’t think the response from people in the rest of India will be very different from the response of the Gujaratis.

It is a non-story and it should be buried.

Aakar Patel is a writer and columnist