MODI'S CREATIVE GENIUS A BEACON OF INNOVATION

ALWAYS A FIGHTER FOR WOMEN’S ROLE IN DEMOCRACY - Anandiben Patel, Governor, Uttar Pradesh

He came as the Sangathan Mantri of Gujarat BJP at that time. Two things he especially said about women at that time. One was, women, at least one woman, should be included and given responsibility among office bearers in the Taluka and district organisations of the party. He made one woman compulsory, which was later raised to two.

Similarly in municipal polls, there is reservation only for Mayor. Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Standing Committee Chairman & Opposition leader... these are the four important posts. Narendra Modi said, where Mayor is not a woman, at least the Deputy Mayor or Standing Committee Chairman should be a woman. No Samiti will be accepted by the party without this criteria. When party men came with their Samitis from different places, the first thing he asked was why there was no woman’s name on the list?

Then he would himself suggest a name. I remember an incident in Mehsana, where it was being decided how many women were to be made MPs or given tickets for MPs? He always kept thinking of these beforehand. There was a meeting in Gandhinagar and all from Mehsana came with the names, where he asked where are women’s names? Go back and bring women’s names to me.

They came back with a couple of names. Modi sent them back again saying I am only going to give tickets to women and it is your responsibility to make them win. Then he gave the name of Jayashreeben Patel. and asked the men to ensure her win.

Subsequently, she won twice. I was the President of Gujarat BJP women’s wing. I went alone to conduct a meeting at Kutch. When I returned, Narendra Bhai called me asking how my meeting was. I said it was good. So the first thing he asked was how many women were there? I told 25-26 women.

Then he said how many were educated? How many were in service and things like that.

Many of the answers I was unable to give. At the end, I asked him why he was asking all these questions to me?

He said, “I was asking because if a woman is from farmers’ family, we would understand their problems, if he/she is a doctor/nurse, we will come to know of the problems they face. Women from all sectors should come before us, then only we will be able to reach to the root of their problems and solve them.”

MODI’S JAL MANDIR CONCEPT - HS Singh, Retd Forest Officer

Modi ji was the first to come up with the ‘Jal Mandir’ concept . There are more than 18,000 villages in Gujarat, with anywhere from 1 to 5 ponds in each village. This translates into at least 40,000 ponds in total in the whole of the state.

Modi ji said, earmark these ponds, make embankments, beautify them, plant trees associated with people and culture, because village culture is deeply associated with ponds. Most cultural as well as religious activities take place around these ponds. If these ponds could be connected to the daily chore of human life in rural areas, they could be well maintained and made places of importance.

Many ponds are lying in neglect. Modi ji asked us to revive these water bodies. He said they serve many purposes like cultural restoration and bird nesting as nesting takes place around water bodies and tall trees. Water, bird, tourism - all in just one idea, i.e. Jal Mandir.... water bodies that could be sanctified and revered as temples.

PROPONENT OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT - Dr Sangeeta Reddy, Jt MD, Apollo Hospitals

Modi ji said, you are going to play a very important role in G20, and in the G20 EMPOWER, show the world the new Indian woman. This was in the year 2020 when I had just taken over as the President of FICCI.

The entire presidium was there; we met him in his office. He said, I know you are not the first lady president. But it is important that you have a very good term. You make an impact, because the industry will lead the country and the economy into a more powerful position.

I know from that line that so many important points of future leaders and thoughts came out so easily from his mind, like the importance of commerce, growth, economy, women and equity.

He sent us a beautiful letter. He said, ‘You are going to play a very important role in G20 and present this and showcase this before the world how Indian women are empowered. As Indian women are not just women like you or women in power, but women at the grassroots who are empowered.’

He said his very famous line that he repeated at G20, India is looking forward to not only women’s development but ‘women led development of the whole country.’

NO EMPOWERMENT WITHOUT LEADERSHIP - Kamlesh Rathod, BJP

From Matri Shakti to Netritva Shakti, Modi had this idea instilled in him since 1995, when I first met him.

In the Dhandhuka taluka panchayat elections, we had a meeting at Paldi in Ahmedabad. I got a message from Anandiben Patel to bring with me the election winner Geetaben Sukhadiya. Narendra Bhai called us after the meeting.

The Taluka panchayat president post was not reserved for women. Geetaben was an educated person, so Narendra Bhai had this idea that through Geetaben, the party can set an example of providing leadership role to Nari Shakti and this should send across a message that on seats where there is no reservation, a woman can be made president. Why do we need women only on reserved seats? Why not on general seats where there was no bar on women representatives? He asked me to convey this to Geetaben. The way she has been elected, women from all families of Gujarat should provide leadership like Geetaben, he said.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA