What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Sporting a pair of blue sketchers and a heavily embellished pink sari during her campaign trail, Rivaba Jadeja, BJP’s Jamnagar North candidate exhibits the gait of an athlete. She seems in a hurry to make a difference. Her vision is to turn Jamnagar into a smart city.
Just like her husband and ace Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja exudes raw energy on the cricket field, his wife walks tirelessly for hours to interact with people of her constituency. Because of the extensive legwork, within a short span of time she has been successful in shedding the tag of being a cricketer’s wife and attract the adulation of locals.
“It is a huge responsibility given to me by the party. It is a historic decision on the part of the party to field a young woman candidate from Jamnagar North. I try to walk fast and meet maximum number of people and answer all their queries.I need to answer all the small questions of the people on how we will turn Jamnagar into a smart city, ” she said in an exclusive interview to The New Indian.
A mechanical engineer by training, the 32-year-old has aspired to serve the country in some form since her childhood. After the completion of her education, she tried to crack UPSC and enter Air Force without much success. Her marriage into the Jadeja family brought her closer to her dream of serving the people but in a different way. A meeting with the Prime Minister in 2018 gave her clarity on what she wanted to do next. “We met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 and then I realised how to take it forward and joined BJP in 2019 after getting inspired from him. And since then my journey is continuing in politics,” she said.
Her husband has been instrumental in her decision to enter politics. In fact, they met Prime Minister together in 2018. “My life changed tracked when I married Ravindra Jadeja in 2016. I thought now my dreams will be left behind. But my husband has been very supportive. He encouraged me to pursue my dreams. We met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 and then I got clarity on how to take my work forward and joined BJP in 2019,” she said.
Since then she has worked relentlessly to empower women across 200 villages. “Empowering women is the Prime Minister’s vision and his vision guides the work I do with women,” she added
She refuted rumours of feud in the family due to her and Ravindra Jadeja’s sister Naina’s political leanings, saying they simply believe in different ideologies. “My family is very liberal. It is not uncommon for family members to have different political opinions. All I can say is there may be mat-bhed (different of opinion), but not man-bhed,” she said.
A Rajkot native, Rivaba will face veteran Congress leader Bipendrasinh Jadeja whose campaign is being managed by Ravindra Jadeja’s sister and the Congress women’s wing head Nainaba Jadeja. The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate is Karsan Karmur who quit the BJP last year.
