The bane: Women in Narendra Modi’s life

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - William Congreve   

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is supposed to be a ladies' man - women are believed to be his more loyal electorate. But, if one looks at the larger picture in perspective, it is the women who have created havoc in Modi's political life.

The charming CM has earned the wrath of one too many women in the state. The first direct allegation of Modi's involvement in the 2002 riots was made by widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, Zakia, who filed a plea in Supreme Court seeking investigation into the role of Narendra Modi in riots.

She was joined by Rupa Mody, whose son Azhar went missing in the attack on Gulbarg Society in 2002. In recent times, Shweta Bhatt, wife of arrested IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, and Jagruti Pandya, widow of slain former home minister Haren Pandya, have, through their persistence efforts for justice, caused a series of embarrassing moments for the establishment.

While Shweta has categorically blamed Modi for ruining her family by unfairly targeting her husband, Jagruti has repeatedly put Modi in a spot by seeking help from him to find the 'real killers' of her husband. Modi is yet to respond. Recently, she turned in two officials for spying on her and twice rejected state police's offer to provide her police protection. Her silent assertion 'I don't trust them' is a slap for Modi establishment.

Significantly, these women who have turned out to be Modi's bete noirs are not activists but simple housewives, whose main concern was the well-being of their husbands and children, till they became victims of vendetta politics. Shweta's eyes go mist when she says her husband's name, and Zakia's tears are uncontrollable when she talks of the massacre. The wait for Azhar in Rupa's eyes, even today, can stir the most stone-hearted. But, time has proven that their tears have become their strength. Adversity has brought out the extraordinary in these ordinary homemakers.

It is a kind of folklore in police circles that even after death, Kausar bi is haunting Modi. Kausar bi was scorned when her husband Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter by Gujarat police allegedly at the behest of their political masters. Later, she was raped and burnt alive. Incidentally, it was Gujarat's first woman IPS officer Geetha Johri who opened a Pandora's Box with her initial investigation establishing that Sohrabuddin's encounter was 'fake'. "The resurrection of Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case literally came out of nowhere," one cop chuckles. The buzz world has added Ishrat Jahan in the folklore of late.