Cooler than Michelle Obama, meet Delhi's truly modern, aam aurat 'first lady' Sunita Kejriwal

Just as Twitter started to sound a little drunk with glee and shock after the Aam Aadmi Party raced to victory in the Delhi polls, the picture that caught the fancy of the Internet was not one of AAP supporters gobbling laddoos or Kejriwal sans a muffler. It was of a woman, Sunita Kejriwal, hardly recognisable to the thousands of AAP voters and their many other fans across the country. [caption id=“attachment_2093335” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sunita Kejriwal. PTI[/caption] Arvind Kejriwal - the shrieking, complaining, one-dialogue-a-second bunch of nerves as we know him - did something we hardly associate him, or any other politician in the country, with. As the shutterbugs went into a tizzy, he locked his wife in a spontaneous embrace. Despite being familiar with the sight of wives and families of politicians making appearances in rallies etc, the reason the picture made us go ‘aww’ was how genuine it was. It didn’t seem like the regular ‘I-am-a-family-man-neta’ photo op that we are all so used to. Kejriwal hugged Sunita the way you and I would hug a partner when we get a promotion, get otherwise awesome news. It was pure, unadulterated joy, the kind the aam aadmi is all too familiar with. While Kejriwal was quick to warn his party members to not develop hubris soon after the results came out, he also thanked the single most important person in his life profusely. In fact, while he didn’t sound a victory horn on Twitter, he made it a point to thank Sunita.

Thank u Sunita for always being there "@rsaraf007: Sunita Kejriwal and @ArvindKejriwal first pics after winning pic.twitter.com/eDLxfxKMbd"

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 10, 2015

Clad in a simple orange printed salwar kameez, the first significant picture of the future Delhi chief minister’s wife was that of an aam aurat and the media was quick to spot it too. The Economic Times' headlined a profile feature on Sunita Kejriwal as the ‘Aam Aurat behind India’s uncommon man’. “I would not have been able to achieve anything without her. I can do nothing alone,” the ET quotes Kejriwal as telling his supporters. An Indian Revenue Services employee, Sunita is not your usual neta’s wife. She continued to keep her job, despite her husband’s political foray. In fact it is her commitment to her job that allowed her husband to go around, engaging in his political shennaingans. She put food on the table, and even a roof above their heads. “I have dragged her here today…I told her the government will not take any action. She was never seen. But she was always there,” said Kejriwal. Sunita herself didn’t play the adarsh homely Indian wife stereotype while explaining why she was always in the background. She refused to endorse a melodramatic account of being the resilient, supportive, sacrificial woman that the Indian masses love - she offered a practical explanation behind her absence from Kejriwal’s many rallies and other shenanigans. She told ET and other media outlets that as she is a government servant, it was not right and legal for her to comment on the political developments around her. In staying away from the media glare and at the same time participating in a very personal moment of celebration that was unfurling in public, Sunita Kejriwal presented India with a role model that us aam aurat can do with. She is at once encouraging and humbling. Her fabulous ability to balance her personal commitments with her professional engagements is the stuff women’s health drinks ad-makers should be envious of. The life she has led so far, even they couldn’t have concocted. The fact that Sunita decided to keep her job with the IRS and follow the professional discipline expected of her despite her husband’s tumultuous public life shows how the modern Indian woman can partake in a relationship as an equal, without either getting overwhelmed by it, or ignoring it. She is not the weepy picture of sacrifice behind a successful man. She is a successful individual who happens to also be the wife of a successful politician. While reporting Kejriwal’s quote on his wife, The Indian Express chose to draw a parallel with Michelle Obama and Barack Obama. The article said, “Does Delhi have its first first couple in the Kejriwals? When US President Barack Obama won his second term, the first image that went up was of him hugging wife Michelle, with the caption “four more years”.” We hope not. Michelle Obama, who had a hugely successful law career is now someone whose entire life is orchestrated around being FLOTUS, the First Lady of US, essentially the President’s wife.  Now the pressures and security issues of a Delhi politician and the President of US are hardly comparable, but Sunita Kejriwal offers Indian women a life plan that’s both practical and empowering. While Arvind Kejriwal should also be credited with supporting Sunita, it is quite true that it is she who has put up with her husband’s reputation, not the other way round. She clearly didn’t let the pressures and privileges of being a popular politician’s wife get to her. At a time when the likes of Mulayam Singh Yadav have turned people like his daughter-in-law into mere political puppets, Sunita’s relationship with Kejriwal’s political career is interesting to say the least. We have had a similar example in Devendra Fadnavis’ wife, who continues to keep her job in a private bank. However, like we had noted in this article, Amruta Fadnavis has enthusiastically become an extension of her husband’s political life. While she continues to be a thorough professional, from her interviews to public appearances, she chooses to emphasise her role as Devendra Fadnavis’ wife . One has to blame the media here too, the soundbites they seek mostly have to do with her being the CM’s wife and Amruta happily obliges. Which is where Sunita Kejriwal cuts a refreshing new picture. While the aam aadmi CM of Delhi is grabbing eyeballs, we have our sights set on his aam aurat wife!