Gandhinagar: Anandiben Patel was on Thursday sworn in as first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat. The 73-year-old Modi confidant and former school teacher has come a long way from being a farmer’s daughter in Mehsana’s Kharod village to rule the state as its chief minister. Patel, a post-graduate in science, joined politics rather late. As the only woman Patel leader in BJP, and known for her hard work and efficiency, Patel’s rise in the party has been meteoric.Â
In 1994, Patel was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and she represented the country at the Fourth World women’s Conference at Beijing. She contested her first assembly election in 1998 from Mandal, and went on to become the minister for education in the Keshubhai Patel ministry. She won from Patan in 2002, 2007 and 2012, and handled the key portfolios of roads and buildings and revenue in the Modi government.Â
Her grit and courage had in fact opened her the way to politics. Patel got the state government’s gallantry award in 1987 after she jumped into the Narmada dam to save two girls from drowning. The girls had gone there as part of a picnic team from her school, Mohniba Vidyalaya in Ahmedabad, where Patel had joined as a primary school teacher in 1968 and stayed for 30 years. Her bravery earned Patel instant fame, and she was soon persuaded to join BJP.