Isudan Gadhvi is an Indian politician and former journalist who is best known as AAP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, which he lost.
Wiki/Biography
Isudan Gadhvi was born on Sunday, 10 January 1982 (age 41 years; in 2023) in Pipaliya, Gujarat. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. In 2003, he completed his bachelor’s degree in Jamnagar. In 2005, he pursued a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Gadhvi’s father’s name is Kherajbhai Gadhvi, a farmer.
Isudan Gadhvi with his father
His mother’s name is Maniben.
Isudan Gadhvi with her mother
Wife & Children
Isudan married Hiral Gadvhi.
Isudan Gadhvi with his wife
Caste
He belongs to OBC.
Career
Journalism
Gadhvi started his career with a Doordarshan show called ‘Yojana’. In 2007, he joined ETV Gujarati as a field reporter in Porbandar and worked there till 2011. At ETV, he gained popularity for exposing Rs. 150 crore illegal deforestation scam in Dang and Kaparada talukas of Gujarat. While working as a field reporter, he worked in various locations in Gujarat including Vapi, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. In 2015, he became the youngest channel head in Gujarati media after he joined VTV Gujarati, where he hosted the prime time TV show Mahamanthan. In the program, he discussed various social issues with the panelists. The show’s viewership increased so much that its duration increased from one hour to one and a half hours. Gadhvi earned the name ‘people’s journalist’ or ‘khedut no patrakaar’ (rural people’s journalist) for discussing farmers’ issues in the show.
Isudan Gadhvi as an anchor at VTV Gujarati
He also holds shows on weekends to promote Hindu culture where he discusses topics such as ‘History of Lord Hanuman’, Karma ka Siddhant (principle of Karma), and ‘old man’s house.’
Politics
In June 2021, Gadhvi joined the AAP Party. In June 2022, he was appointed as the party’s National Joint Secretary General. On 4 November 2022, Arvind Kejriwal announced Gadhvi as AAP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections.
Isudan Gadhvi with Arvind Kejriwal after being elected as AAP member
On 8 December 2022, a BJP candidate defeated him in the Gujarat state assembly election by 19,000 votes.
Controversy
Attack the Isudan convoy
In June 2022, during the ‘Jan Samvad Yatra’ in Junagadh, Gadhvi’s convoy was allegedly attacked by ‘BJP miscreants.’ Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded that Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani file an FIR and take strict action against the culprits. In a Twitter post, he wrote,
If people like Isudan and Mahesh Bhai are attacked openly in Gujarat then no one is safe in Gujarat.”
Isudan Gadhvi attacked during Jan Samvad Yatra
Arrested for protesting the question paper leak
In December 2021, Isudan, along with other AAP leaders, was jailed for eleven days after he protested at the BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar against the leak of question papers in the recruitment exam.
Accused of drinking alcohol during the assembly meeting
In 2022, he was found guilty of attending an unlawful assembly while intoxicated. He was booked by the Infocity Gandhinagar police after the forensic science laboratory (FSL) confirmed liquor in his body.
‘Mann Ki Baat’ Lineup
In April 2023, he took to Twitter to claim that Rs 830 crore of taxpayers’ money had been spent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann KI Baat radio program following a case filed against him by the Ahmedabad police for making claims without any concrete evidence of the money spent on the radio programme. Mr Gadhvi tweeted,
One episode of Mann Ki Baat costs Rs 8.3 crore! This means the Center has spent ₹ 830 crore on 100 episodes so far. This is too much. BJP workers should register their protest, as most of them listen to this programme.”
Facts/Trivia
- Gadhvi is actively helping people during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview, he shared his experience of why he started helping people during the epidemic and said that he once saw a woman standing outside the hospital holding a dead body that was not allowed to enter the hospital because she did not use the government ambulance. Gadhvi was furious and revealed the number of ambulance officers in public. In the interview, he further added,
The officer got 10,000 calls on his cell phone. He went to the high court for a reprieve. After that incident I started thinking that I need to do something outside of journalism.”
- In 2021, when he joined AAP, Arvind Kejriwal spoke about it and said,
It was a huge career sacrifice that promised to clean up the mess created by the ruling party, along with the Congress, in Gujarat. Gadhvi has left a plum career for AAP…You can bring change from outside the system, but there are limits to this. So, Gadhvi decided to join the system and clean up the mess.”
Speaking about this, Isudan said,
I joined media to serve people and people of Gujarat like me. I found that by staying in the media industry, I could serve only a few people, so I left the industry and joined politics so that I could work for the people.”
- After being selected as the AAP candidate in Gujarat, he said that he would work on issues like debt waiver for farmers, fair price guarantee, uninterrupted power supply and irrigation facilities. Second, he will work to establish anti-corruption helplines in Delhi and Punjab. Third, he announced free electricity supply for everyone in Gujarat up to 300 units per month.
- In 2021, he criticized the Jan Ashirwad campaign started by the BJP and said that it was an insult to the people who died during the epidemic. Criticizing the BJP’s negligence during the pandemic, he said,
BJP has been in power in Gujarat for the last two and a half decades… lakhs of people in Gujarat died due to Covid due to lack of oxygen, medicines, hospital beds and policies like no admission to hospital without ambulance support. But the government has hidden the figures…. At a time when people are running from pillar to post for medicine and oxygen cylinders, none of these BJP leaders answer their phone calls… even worse, they turn off their mobile phones or give rude answers to people asking for help.”
- In 2021, he demanded an apology from the Gujarat Chief Minister for the demolition of the Ramdev Peer temple in Surat city by the BJP.
- In an interview, he said that he only smoked tobacco once when he was studying in college. In another interview, he said, he was a teetotaler.
- In another interview, he said that if his party came to power, he would work as a politician for ten years and then retire.
- Gadhvi describes himself as a ‘Nayak’ from a Bollywood film starring Anil Kapoor.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
