Prime Minister

Jashodaben

high rise

Ashok Modi

DRAFTED RTI

Sandeep Modi

lawyer

Prahladnagar

superintendent

teacher

head constable

guard

Gujarat Police

Tata Indigo

Narendra Modi

Meagre allowance to her security personnel that apparently made them ask her for tea and snacks promptedNarendra Modi’s wifeto file RTI application, seeking the details of the protocol. Sources told Mirror that the issue erupted about two weeks ago when Jashodaben visited Mumbai for 13 days. She stayed in aapartment in Mira Road and her brotherapparently asked the security men to make their own arrangements for food and shelter. Since the guards were duty-bound to not leave her side, they stayed downstairs in the same complex but asked for tea and refreshments from the host family as they could not leave the premises.Jashodaben says she is not in a position to provide her nine guards tea and snacks all the time and that is also a reason for her RTI as it will highlight the issue of their meager salary. According to sources, the security personnel face several problems. At Unjha they have no place to sit and rest while on a 12- hour security duty. So they have rented a small courtyard next to Jashodaben’s house. They shell out Rs 400 for this. Besides, they are paid a meagre allowance of Rs 30 to Rs 100 a day when they travel outside Unjha. “It is just not possible to buy food and water with this money,” sources pointed out.When Jashodaben returned to Ahmedabad at the weekend she visited her nephew, a criminal, who lives inand asked him to help with her prepare the RTI application. “Jashodaben is scared because they do not carry any order papers. They work in shifts so she is worried about her safety and concerned about the facilities provided to her. She was clear that she wanted an RTI to be filed on these points. I helped draft it as she sought my help,” said Sandeep Modi. This also explains why the RTI application was signed in Ahmedabad.The next day (Monday) Jashodaben filed her application with theof police at Mehsana. One of the issues she raised was the guards’ demand to be treated as guests. “I am the wife of the prime minister of India. The security personnel tell me that they should be welcomed like guests. Which law makes provision for the same or which portion of the protocol prescribes this? Please give a certified copy of the relevant order,” she wrote. The 64-year-old retiredhas a fleet of nine cops oflevel whoher round-the-clock.Three head constables fromensure her safety in 12-hour shift which changes at 8 am and 8 pm daily. They have been provided an official vehicle, aeCS, to accompany her. The fleet accompanies her wherever she goes, be it in Unjha, the north Gujarat town where she lives with her brother, or outstation. Since, Jashodaben does not own a personal vehicle, she often uses public transport like bus or autorickshaw for travelling during which one to two cops accompany her while the third guard follows in the car.This was mentioned in the RTI application. “I, Jashodaben Modi, am the wife of the prime minister of India. I travel in public transport. My security personnel travel in government vehicle. On whose order do they do so? Please urgently give me a certified copy of that order…. Is protocol applicable to me?” “She is the prime minister’s wife and yet she has to travel in buses, autorickshaws and twowheelers while even the security guards have been provided an air-conditioned vehicle. Isn’t it unfair? They should think about it,” said Daksha Modi, daughter-in-law of Jashodaben’s brother Ashok Modi. Family members say she does not sit in the car because it has been allotted to the security guards, not her.“Those were good years. I was 17 years and (Narendra) Modi was 18… He called me Jassu….” Jashodaben Modi blushes like a teenager, going red in face as she recalls the two years she spent at her in-law’s. “He was fully attentive to his college and education … and never demanded any special items,” she told Mirror, settled in a small verandah at her house in Brahmanwada in Unjha.A day after filing an RTI application with Mehsana Superintendent of Police J R Mothalia to know about the facilities she was entitled to as Prime Minister’s wife, Jashodaben (64) was a busy woman, meeting people from nearby and media persons pouring in. She said she firmly believed that whatever happened to her about 45 years ago was destiny and people across the world know her because Modi acknowledged her as his wife in the nomination form he filed at Vadodara during Lok Sabha election earlier this year. “I chose to study further and excel in life. Maybe (married life) was not my destiny. I firmly believe that what one gets is because of destiny and karma,” she insisted.