PM Modi took a life lesson from Gujarat’s women: What was it
PM Modi says that when the law was introduced in 2023, it was passed unanimously by all parties
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke of a ‘life lesson’ he took from rural women in Gujarat when he had just assumed office as Chief Minister in the state after the exit of Keshubhai Patel.
PM Modi, while addressing the Nari Shakto Vandan seminar in Delhi ahead of the parliamentary debate this week on the 33 per cent women’s reservation, said he was still learning the ropes of the new job as Chief Minister when a request came to him that some panchayat members of Anand village wanted to see him.
“I first said let them meet the panchayati affairs minister but then learnt that this was an all-women panchayat where no male candidate had contested. So naturally when I heard that this was a panchayat dominated by women, I became interested. The delegation, quite strangely, came without a memorandum unlike many who always come to ask for something or the other,” recalled PM Modi.
He went on to narrate the lesson he drew from the meeting and one which he continues to cherish to date.
“When I asked them what they planned to do for the village over the next five years of their tenure, their answer was such as not even the most celebrated of global economists can think of let alone give. They said their pledge and mission was to ensure that no one in the village remains poor once they sign off as panchayat members. Anyone else would have given stock answers—about building a hospital or a road of a bridge but these rural women from a panchayat in Gujarat had an answer which resonates deeply with me even today,” he said while making a case for 33 per cent women’s reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
In the same breath Modi also said that as CM he had refused to transfer the money earned by women of Gujarat mil cooperatives in the names of their husbands. “This took me a while but I clearly said that the money will go to the women only,” Modi said to loud applause as he declared that women should be ready to bridge the gap between panchayats and Parliament now.
