Anandiben Patel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Anandiben Patel

• Anandiben Patel is an Indian teacher-turned-politician, who presently serves as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She is the first female Chief Minister of Gujarat, and she has also remained the former Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

• The longest-serving woman legislator in Gujarat, Anandiben is also an educationalist, social worker, and a former cabinet minister of the Gujarat Government, where she held up to five portfolios. She has also been an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 1987.

• She attended a boys’ school in her village from classes 5 to 7, and she was the only girl student there. Her high school in Ahemdabad also had only three girls at the time.

• While studying in school, Anandiben was active in sports and was a district level champion in athletics for three consecutive years. ^[18]India.com

• Belonging to a farming family, Ms Patel was a gold medalist in MSc and M.Ed, which she completed from the Gujarat Vidyapith. ^[19]Raj Bhavan UP 

• On 29 May 1962, Anandiben got married to her now-estranged husband, Mafatlal Patel, who worked as a Psychology professor at the Saraspur Art and Commerce College in Ahmedabad.

• Soon after marriage, Anandiben started working in the Mehsana Development House in Visnagar where she would listen to the queries of women and take them to the late Shantaben Patel, an MLA from Mehsana who built the House. After working there for a year, the couple moved to Ahemadabad, and Anandiben started working as a maths and science teacher in Mohiniba Girls’ Vidyalaya in 1967. She was promoted to the post of principal a year later. ^[20]Divya Bhaskar

• In 1985, Anandiben and Mafatlal began living apart, however, they did not legally divorce. Reports stated that Mafatlal blamed interference by Narendra Modi as the reason for their separation. According to Mafatlal, Modi had greatly influenced Anandiben into politics when she was the school principal. He also wrote several letters to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani complaining about the same. Anandiben’s husband even campaigned against her in assembly elections. ^[21]The Times of India Mafatbhai said in an interview, ^[22]DNA India
  

  When she [Anandiben Patel] entered politics, she severed all ties with the family for no fault of ours. Her behaviour has become deformed and Narendra Modi is responsible for it.”

• In 1987, Patel, the principal of Mohiniba Vidyalaya, came into the limelight after she saved two girls of her school from drowning by quickly jumping into Sardar Sarovar reservoir in the Narmada river. ^[23]Deccan Herald

• Following her heroic stint, some leaders of BJP approached Anandiben, and in 1987, she joined the party and entered into politics. Patel began as the President of BJP’s women wing and steadily rose through the ranks. She also held other important designations in the party, including the President of State Women’s Front, Vice President for BJP’s State Unit, and Member of National Executive Council of BJP. ^[24]Mint

• The teacher-turned-politician made history in 1992 by becoming the only female political leader to participate in the Ekta Yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. Anandiben accompanied the then BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi in the tricolour hoisting ceremony at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on 26 January. ^[25]Raj Bhavan UP

• In 1994, Anandiben got her first Rajya Sabha nomination, and in 1998 she quit her Upper House seat to contest elections in Gujarat. ^[26]Mint

• Patel contested her first Assembly elections in 1998 from the Mandal assembly constituency of Ahmedabad and won. She was given the Ministry of Education under the Keshubhai Patel government, which she held till 2002. ^[27]NDTV As the Minister of Education (primary, secondary, and adult) and Minister of Women and Child Welfare, Patel was accredited with contributing immensely to her respective sector, such as for boosting female literacy in the state. ^[28]Raj Bhavan UP During her tenure, the girl child dropout rate fell to two per cent in 2013 from 37 per cent in 2001. ^[29]India Today

• Anandiben contested her second and third assembly elections from the Patan constituency in 2002 and 2007 respectively, and she won in both the elections. The former Education Minister retained portfolio from 2002 to 2007, but in the next term, Anandiben became the Minister of Revenue and Road and Building. ^[30]NDTV As a revenue minister in the BJP-led government, Anandiben spearhead changes and brought several reforms including the establishment of ‘Janseva Kendras,’ introducing e-governance and e-gram, creating a single-window clearance system, making records of rights available online, etc. ^[31]The Free Press Journal

• In the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, Anandiben contested from the Ghatlodia constituency of Ahemadabad and won the fourth time again. Patel retained her portfolios of Revenue, Road and Building, Urban Development and Urban Housing, Disaster Management, and Capital Projects when Narendra Modi came to power in Gujarat. ^[32]NDTV

• Two years later, on 24 May 2014, Anandiben Patel’s political career got a boost when she took over Gujarat as its first female Chief Minister after the former Gujarat CM and incumbent Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India.

• As Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Anandiben brought reforms for the betterment of primary education and emphasised sanitation programmes. A socially inclined leader, Patel also spearheaded social welfare programmes in the state, including women’s health, malnutrition in children, and building toilets under Modi’s flagship ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.’ ^[33]The Indian Express

• After she took the reins of Gujarat in her hands, the Patel quota protests erupted all across the state, and in 2016, Anandiben had to face the uprising of Dalits after a flogging incident in Una. Also, under her leadership, BJP in Gujarat lost in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections of April 2016. ^[34]News18 In August 2016, reportedly, when Anandiben seemingly failed to handle the protests and agitation, she stepped down as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and she continued to hold the office until her successor Vijay Rupani was appointed to the office on 7 August 2016. ^[35]The Outlook She resigned by posting a letter on her Facebook handle, which read: ^[36]The Indian Express
  

  For some time, the party has introduced a tradition of senior leaders voluntarily stepping down from responsibilities when they complete 75 years of age. Which is exemplary and imitable, which is why the younger generation gets an opportunity to work… however, at the end of 2017 is the Gujarat assembly election, and in January 2017 is the biennial Vibrant Gujarat summit which is critical for Gujarat. So, in order to give enough time to the newly appointed Chief Minister, I had requested senior leaders of the party to relieve me of this responsibility two months ago. Today, once again through this letter, I humbly request the party’s senior leadership to relieve me from the Chief Minister’s responsibility.”

• On 23 January 2018, Anandiben Patel was appointed the Governor of Madhya Pradesh succeeding Om Prakash Kohli, and on 15 August 2018, she was also appointed the Governor of Chhattisgarh following the sudden demise of the then governor Balram Das Tandon. She served on both posts till 28 July 2019 before taking charge of Uttar Pradesh as its Governor on 20 July 2019, succeeding Ram Naik. ^[37]Raj Bhavan UP

• Throughout her political career, Ms Patel worked closely with Narendra Modi, and she even stood by the latter when he was banished from the state following BJP’s internal matter. A staunch Narendra Modi loyalist, Anandiben has remained the second in command to him in Gujarat for years, and reportedly, she used to be virtually in charge of the state in the absence of Modi. ^[38]BBC Patel is also often described as Modi’s left arm, following Amit Shah, who is known to be the PM’s right arm. ^[39]Mint

  

• In January 2014, Mafatbhai had almost joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to protest against Modi’s rule in Gujarat but reportedly he didn’t go ahead with his decision after his children advised him against the idea. ^[40]The Pioneer

• Anandiben published her first book titled “Ae Mane Hamesha Yaad Raheshe” (Gujarati Edition) in October 2015 by Ahmedabad-based Rannade Publication. The 35-episodes long book talks about various social issues related to women and children which Anandiben observed before she stepped into politics. Talking about her book in an interview, she said, ^[41]The Indian Express
  

  All this was written four to five years ago…It was all in the computer. Anar and Sanjay (her children) sent it for printing and presented me a book. I then asked friends to read it. Following a positive response from them, a book has come now.”

  The politician and author published two other books titled “Prayas” and “Pratibimb” in July 2019.