Riva Jadeja’s surname gives it all away. Her claim to fame is that she is Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife. That her husband’s cricketing career has contributed to her image in the public eye, has also not escaped Riva, but she aggressively insists on having an identity of her own—a social worker turned politician. Pitched against Congress and AAP veterans in the Jamnagar (north) Assembly constituency, Riva is making her debut in the political arena on a BJP ticket. Riva, who is now Rivaba for everyone (adding the respectful Gujarati ‘ba’ to her name), will see if her political entry has made a mark when the constituency goes to poll on December 1. 

At 32, the mechanical engineer entered electoral politics in a dramatic fashion when the BJP dropped a sitting MLA in the constituency to hand her the candidature for the upcoming election. Speaking to us, she says the choice was not hers alone, but came from the top, from the Prime Minister himself. She willingly accepted.