Anandiben
Patel was born on 21 November 1941, in Kharod village of Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district, Gujarat. Her father
Jethabhai was a farmer. She completed her education till 4th grade in a Girls’
school and was then admitted to Boys’ school as there was no other school in
the district. She studied as a single girl among 700 boys. She moved to Nutan Sarv
Vidyalay in Visnagar in 8th grade. She was awarded “VeerBala” award in Mehsana
for her outstanding achievement in athletics. She joined M. G. Panchal Science
College at Pilvai in 1960 and was the only girl in First Year Science in entire
college. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Science in Visnagar later. She joined Mahila Vikas
Gruh for the upliftment of women as her first job. She taught vocational
courses to more than 50 widows.
She moved to Ahmedabad in 1965 with her husband
Mafatbhai Patel and joined Master of Science. She took the responsibility of
educating all the children of her extended family in Ahmedabad. In those days,
more than 10 of her family member used to stay at her place in Ahmedabad. She
joined Bachelor of Education to pursue her interest in teaching. She received
gold medal in her M.Ed.
She joined as
a school teacher in Mohniba School Vidyalaya in 1970. She was teaching subject
like science and mathematics to higher secondary students. She later on became
principal of the school. She declined all the other offers only to stay
with Mohniba School Vidyalaya for 30 years even while she was in important
political positions.
Political career
Anandiben
Patel's entry into politics began with an accident during school picnic in 1987.
Two girl students from her school accidentally tripped over and fell into the
river Narmada. In the midst of such a desperate situation, she jumped into the
raging river and single handedly saved two drowning girls. She even received
president's bravery award for this. Impressed by this heroic act, BJP top
cadre suggested Anandiben Patel to join the party. She initially declined the
offer but later while volunteering for drought relief program she saw politics
as a means of service to people and joined BJP as the Gujarat Pradesh Mahila
Morcha President in 1987.
Her first
notable work was during a spread of bird flu in Viramgam district affecting
children where she spent weeks helping local citizens and enforcing the
government officials to take strong action. In 1992, she joined as the only
woman leader from Gujarat in Ekta yatra (journey for unity) led by BJP with BJP
veteran Murli Manohar Joshi
As a member of Parliament]
Anandiben
patel was elected to Rajyasabha from Gujarat in 1994. As an MP, she
participated in the Fourth World women's Conference at Beijing (China) in
1994-95 representing India. She also Visited Bulgaria with the BJP Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and speaker of the
Loksabha - P.A. Sangma.
1998 - First election in Mandal (As an education
Minister
Anandiben
Patel resigned from Rajyasabha in 1998 and contested her first assembly
election from Mandal assembly
seat in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. She became the State Minister in
Government of Gujarat under the leadership of Keshubhai Patel. Later, she
became the fifth ever Woman Cabinet Minister of Gujarat and was assigned the
Education portfolio. In her first term as Education Minister she started
“Lokdarbar” to solve issues related to schools and education on the spot. It
was under her leadership, that the state Government first launched “Shala
Praveshosav” to increase enrollment in schools, which is still the flagship
program of Education department. Her efforts resulted in 100% increase in
enrollment.. In the first two years as an Education Minister, she
initiated a campaign to recruit 26,000 teachers to fill up the vacant positions
for the last 6 years. She is also credited for her outstanding work to reduce
corruption in transfer of teachers. She also decided to set up separate school
for handicapped children.
Second and Third Election from Patan (2002-2012
Anandiben
Patel fought her second and third assembly elections under the leadership of
Narendra Modi in 2002 and 2007 from Patan Constituency. Against the familiar
trend of Education Minister not being elected again, she won the election in
2002 and in 2007. She continued as a Cabinet Minister for Education in her
second term and was assigned two other important portfolios Roads &
Building and Revenue in her third term. Anandiben, in her term of 10 years in
Patan, worked tirelessly for the development of the region. Few of the high
impact projects that took place during her time are, connecting Patan with
Narmada canal for the welfare of farmers, creating 174 check dams in the
region, building one of the largest water filtration plant to provide citizens
of Patan with pure drinking water, a new medical and engineering college in the
region, creation of more than 700 km worth road network and an underground
drainage system. Patan today hosts world’s second largest photo-voltaic solar
plant.
2012 - Fourth term election from Ghatlodiya
Amidst great
speculation on her election assembly, Anandiben Patel moved to Ghatlodiya
constituency of Ahmedabad for 2012 elections. She won with margin of more than
1.75 lakhs vote.
Anandiben’s charismatic presence won her the maximum lead in the state.
2014 - Chief Minister of Gujarat
On 22-May
2014,Anandiben Patel took oath as 15th Chief Minister of Gujarat to succeed
Narendra Modi after latter was elected as Prime Minister of India following
the spectacular victory of BJP in the Indian
general election, 2014. Ms. Patel’s name was
proposed and adopted unanimously at a meeting of the Legislature Party in the
presence of Mr. Modi, who had moments earlier resigned as the Chief Minister.
Ms. Patel is the first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Personal life
Anandiben
married to Mafatlal on 26 May 1962 who was then 28 years old. After living in Mehsana district for four years, they
moved to Ahmedabad. Mafatlal was a professor of Psychology at the Saraspur Art
and Commerce College and Anandiben taught mathematics and science and later
became principal of Mohinaba Kanya Vidyalaya on Ashram Road, Ahmedabad. She voluntarily
retired after teaching for 31 years. She has two children Sanjay Patel and Anar
Patel.
