Not a hobby, but compulsion: former journalist Isudan Gadhvi is AAP’s CM face in Gujarat

Following the announcement, 40-year-old Gadhvi embraced Kejriwal, fellow party members Manoj Sorathiya, Yuvrajsinh Jadeja and others before getting off the stage to seek blessings from his mother. His wife, two sisters and other family members were also present at the press conference.

Gadhvi, an OBC, used to run a popular TV show ‘Mahamanthan’ as editor of VTV-Gujarati, before quitting the broadcast network last year to join AAP.

In an interview to The Indian Express, he had said he was approached by the BJP, Congress and AAP to join them, and he chose AAP.

In a speech following Kejriwal’s announcement, Gadhvi said he entered politics because he has been “compelled to” and not because it is a “passion project”.

“In my entire life, not even a single member in my family has held a political position, even of a sarpanch. When Kejriwalji had asked me to join AAP… he told me, ‘See had I not come into politics, would Delhi have good schools, mohalla clinics? I went to Delhi and saw it for myself, the work that has been done and decided then (to join AAP)… I am entering politics not as a shauk (hobby), but because it is a majboori (compulsion)… because I couldn’t bear the pain of Gujarat’s people.”

Hailing from Pipaliya village in Jamkhambhaliya block of Devbhumi Dwarka district in coastal Saurashtra, Gadhvi studied journalism and mass communication in Gujarat Vidyapith. Youngest of three siblings from a “small farmer family”, he began his career as a field reporter focusing on farm issues, unemployment . By 2015, Gadhvi had joined VTV-Gujarati as a studio anchor, conducting debates on his show ‘Mahamanthan’.

Gadhvi said he quit being a journalist because he felt there was a ‘Lakshman rekha’ that was barring him from bringing effective change in people’s lives.

“When I was a reporter, I would report on issues of farmers, the unemployed, women security, business persons and traders, labourers, contractual employees. But there’s a Lakshman rekha where you can run such issues as news but you can’t issue orders (to change the system).”

Gadhvi said if AAP is voted to power and he gets to be the CM, his first order will be to put out a WhatsApp number for the public to report corruption, and all guilty in such cases “will be sent to jail”.

“The 6.5 crore population of Gujarat will be the CM,” he said.

Gadhvi was arrested last year, along with 65 other AAP members including party Gujarat president Gopal Italia, for protesting at the state BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar over the leak of a question paper of a head clerk recruitment exam.

On January 1, he was booked under the Prohibition Act after the Gandhinagar police claimed that his blood test report from the day of the protest found 0.0545 per cent of alcohol presence. He was subjected to the test after a woman worker of the BJP complained that he allegedly harassed her during the protest in a drunken state.

Gadhvi spent 11 days in jail before being released on bail. A criminal case, before a Gandhinagar magisterial court, is at the stage of issuing summons to the accused persons. Court records indicate that as of the last date of listing, on October 20, while summons were issued by the court against 93 people who will be facing trial in the case, none appeared. The case is scheduled to be heard next on December 20.

In his address Friday, Gadhvi criticised the BJP and mentioned the Morbi suspension bridge collapse which killed 135 people. He also mentioned the Takshashila Arcade fire incident in Surat in May 2019 where 22 young students were killed. “The tragedies that happened — the Morbi incident, Takshashila incident, what was the karyavahi (action) later,” he asked.