Mumbai:
Soon after Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister, his wife Amruta Fadnavis, who was trolled by a Congress leader for making reels on Instagram, was trending on X.
“I am happy. Devendra ji has taken oath as Chief Minister for the third time today. He has served the people and will continue to do so in future too,” said a visibly happy Ms Fadnavis, who also called it a “beautiful day”.
Ms Fadnavis, speaking to NDTV right after results were announced, said that every BJP karyakarta went to the grassroots and worked hard every single day, including her husband “Devendraji”.
“I am proud of the way he worked all through these days. How party karyakartas worked through these days and joined him (Devendra Fadnavis) for his Mission Maharashtra, which he accomplished today. No words to express my happiness,” she had told NDTV, adding that people “voted for development, for Modiji’s good governance and for Maharashtra’s prosperity”.
The couple got married in 2005. They have a daughter, Divija.
In an interview to NDTV 10 years ago, Ms Fadnavis said she had a “negative image of politicians” and was “apprehensive” as to what kind of person Devendra Fadnavis would be.
“I had a negative image of politicians. However, this fear vanished as soon as we met. I found him (Devendra Fadnavis) to be honest and down-to-earth,” she had told NDTV then.
Ms Fadnavis, also a singer, joined the Axis Bank in 2003 as an executive cashier and rose through the ranks over the last 17 years to become the Vice President of the bank’s Transaction Banking Department.
Trained in classical music, Ms Fadnavis made her debut as a playback singer in Prakash Jha’s Jai Gangaajal. Her first music video “Phir Se”, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, was released by T-Series in 2018.
In 2020, she sang “Alag Mera Ye Rang Hai” for acid attack survivors.
She also sang “Tu Mandir Tu Shivala” for the corona warriors in 2020, and “Tila Jagu Dya” for women’s empowerment in 2021.
With 1.1 million Instagram followers, she is active on the social media.
In the run-up to the state polls, targeting Devendra Fadnavis over his “Dharamyuddh” remark, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said that the job of saving ‘dharma’ should be of everyone, and it should not be like people are saving the religion and Deputy Chief Minister’s wife is “making reels on Instagram.”
“If we want to save religion, let us save it together. It can’t be like we save religion and the Deputy Chief Minister’s wife makes reels on Instagram. It can’t be like that. Everyone will save the religion together,” Mr Kumar had said in Nagpur in November.
Responding to the comment, Devendra Fadnavis said that his opponents had started personal attacks against him and his wife as they realised they would not be able to defeat him.
“The Prime Minister is not wrong when he says that there should be a focus on women’s development and women-led social reforms. In the last five years, when Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar could not do anything against me in any of the investigations he carried out, he started personal attacks against me and his troll army started accusing my wife on the Instagram reels she made,” Mr Fadnavis had said in an interview with ANI.
Amruta Fadnavis, it appears, had the last laugh with her husband back as Chief Minister. The BJP, her husband’s party, emerged the single largest party in the state with 132 seats. The Congress ended up with 16 seats in the state polls.
