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Actor-politician Jaya Bachchan’s recent response to being addressed by her husband’s name in Parliament has drawn significant attention. The incident took place in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Budget session. Speculation about family tensions arose when Aishwarya Rai, along with her daughter Aaradhya, posed separately for the media at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s recent wedding, while the rest of the Bachchan family, including Aishwarya’s husband Abhishek, appeared together.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh addressed Jaya Bachchan using Amitabh as her middle name, saying, “Shrimati Jaya Amitabh Bachchan ji, please.” However, the Samajwadi Party MP was displeased with this form of address and responded, “Sir, sirf Jaya Bachchan bolte to kaafi hojata (Calling me Jaya Bachchan would be enough sir).”
When Singh pointed out that her name is listed as “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan” in the official records, the actor-parliamentarian expressed her discontent, stating, “Ye jo hain kuch naya tarika hain ki mahilaayen apni pati ke naam se jaani jaye. Unka koi astitva nahi. Unki koi upalabdhi nahi hain, apne mein aur astitva nahi hain. Ye jo naya shuru hua hain… (Some new method has emerged that women have to be known by their husband’s name. As if women have no identity; they have no achievements, no identity of their own. This is a new thing…)”
While Jaya has always been vocal on such matters and has repeatedly emphasised that she, like any other woman, has an identity of her own beyond her surname, the video of the incident, which has since gone viral on social media, has sparked mixed reactions. While some supported her, others pointed out that her name appears as “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan” in official records.
“We may have our differences with Jaya Bachchan, but she is known as Jaya Bhaduri first and Jaya Bachchan later. She has had a very strong identity separate from her husband. In fact, there was a time when she was more known than her husband. So she could have easily reached the Parliament, had she wanted to use her own name,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “She’s not wrong in any sense btw,” another social media user pointed out.
Jaya Bhaduri and Amitabh Bachchan tied the knot on June 3, 1973, in a low-key ceremony. They have two children: columnist-author Shweta Bachchan Nanda and actor-producer Abhishek Bachchan. Jaya has been a Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party, representing Uttar Pradesh, since 2004. She is currently serving her fifth term in the House.
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