Amruta Fadnavis, the First Lady of Maharashtra, would do well to recall Hillary Clinton.
“I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies and had teas,” Hillary Clinton had famously retorted in 1992 to allegations that her husband Bill, who was running for President, had benefited her law firm as the governor of Arkansas. That’s “the sort of thing that happens to women who have their own careers,” Hillary Clinton had added.
Amruta Fadnavis had a similar no nonsense air about her when her husband Devendra Fadnavis became the chief minister of Maharashtra in 2014. The associate vice-president of Axis Bank at the time, Amruta had told The Economic Times very clearly: “I won’t leave my job. I have worked hard to get here… I believe every woman should try to be financially independent. I will always keep working because I too want to grow intellectually. It is a strong point of my identity.”
Her Instagram account should be a manifesto for every multi-tasking political superwife in India’s male-dominated politics. It says: Banker, Singer, Social Worker, Home Maker…….. “What you have many can have… but what you are no one can be.!”
Also read: Amruta Fadnavis: The ‘first lady’ of Maharashtra isn’t your typical, silent politician’s wife
More than a politician’s wife
Unique, she is. But Indians are unused to the idea of politician wives being independent entities. They seem to have little problem in accepting these women as political substitutes for beleaguered male netas – from Rabri Devi to Ranjeet Ranjan, the list is endless. But rarely do Indian political wives step out of their stoic, supportive roles to build their own personal brand. Amruta Fadnavis can bank, sing, dance, stroll in Davos with the media, and kill it with a new profile picture on Twitter. And Indians can’t stop being surprised.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/1R6L4xaUw0
— AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) August 19, 2019
“She was the youngest vehni (Marathi for sister-in-law) we had ever seen,” recalls Shaina NC of the BJP. “She is a banker, runs an NGO which has adopted villages, and is a good singer. She is a new age Maharashtrian woman who doesn’t fit just the stereotypical slots. She is a role model for working women,” Shaina adds.
Indeed, Maharashtra’s First Lady has made waves, although not always of the right kind. Recently in Mumbai, she dedicated a song to the “Father of our Country”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his birthday with a tweet and a song, setting off a storm on Twitter.
Wishing the Father of our Country @narendramodi ji a very Happy Birthday – who inspires us to work relentlessly towards the betterment of the society ! #HappyBDayPMModiJi #HappyBdayPMModi #HappyBirthdayPM #happybirthdaynarendramodi pic.twitter.com/Ji2OMDmRSm
— AMRUTA FADNAVIS (@fadnavis_amruta) September 17, 2019
In December 2016, she had shot a music video with Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan during the demonetisation crisis. In March 2018, she endorsed Ramdev’s Patanjali products, on which she claimed Indians had “blind faith”. That’s not all. Last month, a Nagpur-based RTI activist, Mohnish J. Jabalpure, filed a petition with the Enforcement Directorate accusing the Devendra Fadnavis government of helping Axis Bank in its business by getting the salary accounts of all employees of the state police and other departments transferred there. Amruta is now the vice-president and corporate head for west India at Axis Bank.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, formerly with the Congress, says she finds it interesting that Amruta has managed to “create her own space in her chosen career” while being the wife of the Maharashtra chief minister. “She hasn’t let her career suffer at the altar of her spouse’s political commitments despite all challenges. That in itself is commendable,” she says.
Also read: How Maharashtra leaders ‘use’ Ganesh Chaturthi to mix politics and devotion
Discomforting misogynists
But there are critics who insist that the newly madeover ‘Mrs CM’ is using her proximity to power to build a singing career – she has sung in movies for directors Prakash Jha and Kunal Kohli. Then there are professional misogynists like Sanjay Nirupam, who once described Smriti Irani as a “thumke laganewali”. Last year, Nirupam attacked Amruta for her dangerous selfie on India’s first domestic cruise Angria, saying she should learn about protocol just as she had about singing and dancing. But Amruta likes to take her critics head-on. She retorted: “I have learned singing and dancing from childhood and gradually it came to a good form. Now if we are talking about government protocol, I have started learning them now, so I will also take time to learn it completely.”
The 40-year-old tries to walk the line between modern and traditional, posting new DPs in ever more Westernised clothes and celebrating the customary Ganesh Chathurthi with complete gusto. She has spoken on the ‘Power of Love’ at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, the event presided over by US President Donald Trump, while also singing a romantic Bollywood song for her husband, whom she calls ‘Devendra’ (without the usual politician wife’s suffix of ji) on TV. She parties with the rich and powerful in colourful plumage, but also works for her NGO, which has adopted three villages Fetri, Kavdas and Kelzar, and dances with her husband in a music video to save Mumbai’s rivers.
When someone like Amruta Fadnavis comes along, living an unabashed full life, there is more than a little discomfort. Especially if they post Happy Friendship Day messages for their husbands that seem more like warnings: Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend. She has promised to campaign for her husband during the forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra. There is no doubt it will be fun.
The author is a senior journalist. Views are personal.