Vibhavariben Vijaybhai Dave

Political Journey

Since her childhood, Smt. Vibhavari Ben Dave always had this spirit and urge to do something for the sake of society. This urge led her to join the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1993 as an active worker at a fledging age of 34 years.

Due to her concerns of helping the needy locals and taking the stand for what is right for her people, she was soon elected as Deputy Mayor of the city of Bhavnagar, Kalangari in 1995. Two years later, she was elected as the first woman to become the Mayor of Bhavnagar in 1997.

From 1995 – 2000, she worked upon peace and security in the Bhavnagar’s Municipal Corporation area. She gave a lot of significance to women security. She came to be known as “Dunkawada Ben” by the people because of her persistence and dutifulness towards her work. She is appreciated for her supportive nature, for being there for her people when in need. Her endurance and principles towards her work reflect the qualities of a potent and responsible leader.

She was appointed as the executive member of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002. She has carried out numerous responsibilities till date and she still continues to be an active member of Bhartiya Janata Party. With a motive to reach out to as many people as possible, she spreads the goodwill of Bhartiya Janata Party. She believes in ‘Work is Worship’ and believes in performing her duties with passion, positivity and devotion.

She won the 12th assembly elections of 2007 and the 13th assembly in 2012 from Bhavnagar (East) constituency, consistently in a row with a massive victory.

In the meantime, she took responsibility for women and child welfare Department as well as Parliamentary Secretary of Education department in the Government of Gujarat. She also took the responsibility as Chairman / Member of various Finance and Non-Financial Parliamentary Committee including the Public Accounts Committee of the Legislative Assembly, Estimate Committee, Public Undertaking Committee, Privilege Committee, Rule Committee and Non-Official Business Committee.

As an MLA, she facilitated Bhavnagar City with the free Wi-Fi zone with a speed of 2 Mbps, 24 hours and 365 days, the first free Wi-Fi in Gujarat. With an aristocratic motive to make the city greener and contributing to the Go-Green idea, she started a program to plant 1000 Neem Trees each year. As a result of this program, Bhavnagar city became the second city to have the highest number of trees.

She made provisions to develop resting places for the pedestrians and especially for the senior citizens. In addition to this, she also took care of major developmental works of the city including cable stead bridge, Rewa Rivechi section lake, Akwada lakefront, Gangajaliya lake development.

Apart from these, she has shown an equal amount of interest and has done fathomless efforts in the field of arts and sports. She renovated the Yashwantrai Natyagrah in the city, constructed a new art gallery and renovated the Sports Complex with more than 1100 seats. She initiated and implemented the idea of a special Public Fair in Bhavnagar on the occasion of Janmashtami where children can enjoy rides free of cost.

She has attended various public meetings at RTO to address and resolve various issues. She has organized driving license camps, especially for women. Various online test guides were printed and distributed among women to help them understand driving rules and regulations in better ways. To ease up the process of getting the licence issued without an agent at the RTO, she organized various camps.

Due to straightforward policy, red eye against anti-social elements and for her execution as an effective public representative, she is known as 'Dandawala Didi'.

In the 14th Legislative Assembly elections for the year 2017, she was elected from Bhavnagar (East) and took over as the Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare, Education (Primary and Higher) and Pilgrimage Division. At present, she is the only woman minister of Gujarat cabinet and is carrying as well as fulfilling her roles and responsibilities effortlessly.