Shehzad Poonawalla

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Shehzad Poonawalla
Shehzad Poonawala During Press Conference During 2025
Born (1987-10-17) October 17, 1987 (age 38)
Pune, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
EducationLLB
Alma materSavitribai Phule Pune University
MIT School of Government
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • Columnist
  • Politician
  • Activist
Years active2008–2026
Known forNational spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party; public criticism of the 2017 Indian National Congress presidential election process
Political party
RelativesTehseen Poonawalla (brother)

Shehzad Poonawalla (born 17 October 1987) is an Indian politician, political commentator, lawyer, columnist and activist from Pune, Maharashtra. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and worked as a secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. He opposed the election of Rahul Gandhi as the party's president in 2017 and called the process "rigged". He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and served as its National Spokesperson and as IT and Social Media department in-charge of the party's Delhi unit. In July 2026, he resigned from the BJP citing personal reasons.[1][2][3][4][5]

Personal life[edit | edit source]

Poonawalla is from Pune, Maharashtra. He is a member of the affluent Aga Khan family. He is a Muslim but states his "culture" is Hindu, and feels reverence for Ganesha.[6] He is a brother of Tehseen Poonawalla, who is a Congress Party supporter and speaks for the party in many news channels debates. He joined an academic programme specializing in politics and government at the MIT School of Government, Pune, and subsequently studied law. He interned with Congress politician Suresh Kalmadi.[7] His father, Sarfaraz Poonawalla, was a businessman who died in 1992; his mother is Yasmin Poonawalla.[8]

Poonawalla has publicly described his personal identity with the phrase "Religion is Islam, culture is Hindu, ideology is Indian" (later updated to "Bhartiya"). He is unmarried.[4][9]

Education[edit | edit source]

Shehzad holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of Pune (now Savitribai Phule Pune University). He also attended a masters programme from MIT School of Government, Pune, and completed his schooling at St. Vincent’s High School, Pune.[10][9][11]

Political career[edit | edit source]

Poonawalla is known for his strong right-wing outlook.[12] He entered in politics at the age of 16.[13]

Indian National Congress[edit | edit source]

Shehzad Poonawalla began his political career in 2008 by joining the Indian National Congress and has served on Congress media cell's research team. He joined the All India Congress Committee (AICC) as a volunteer in 2008 after his internship with Suresh Kalmadi.[13][7][9] He was the vice-president of the National Students Union of India's Pune wing and worked in the media cell of the AICC. Before the 2017 Pune Municipal Corporation election, he was given a responsibility by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee to provide his "inputs" for Pune.[14] He was also tasked with a responsibility because of his "strong credentials as a young Muslim face across India" to formulate a strategy of Congress against the "growing clouts" of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in Maharashtra.[14]

He joined the media research team of the Congress Party in Delhi after finishing his course at MIT School of Government, Pune. His brother, Tehseen Poonawalla, also moved to Delhi with him to pursue his business there.[7] Shehzad worked with senior Congress leaders including Digvijaya Singh, Rajeev Shukla and Manish Tewari in their offices.[7] In the preparation for the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, Congress in-charge for the election, Digvijaya Singh, selected the Poonawalla brothers to operate the party's campaign office at Lucknow.[7] Both the brothers helped Tejashwi Yadav to run a social media campaign for him after the resignation of Nitish Kumar from the position of the Chief Minister of Bihar due to the corruption charges against Yadav who was the Deputy Chief Minister in Kumar's cabinet.[7][15] He also served as State Secretary of Maharashtra Congress.

PM Modi in Gujarat
Those who have no internal democracy can't work for people... I want to tell this youngster Shehzad – you have done a brave thing but this is sadly what has always happened in Congress.

PM Narendra Modi, 2017[16]

A day before when Rahul Gandhi, who was the vice-president of the Congress Party then, filed his nomination for the election of the President of the Indian National Congress on 4 December 2017, Poonawalla tweeted that he approached the office of Rahul Gandhi to provide him proofs that election process of the party was not fair and expected that Gandhi would stop the election but, he claimed, the office "insulted" him. He made an allegation on 29 November 2017 that the internal poll of the party was "rigged" in favour of Rahul Gandhi and his elevation was "selection [and] not an election".[17][4] He labeled the party’s internal democracy a "sham".[5] The party announced unopposed election of Rahul Gandhi as the president on 11 December 2017 stating he "was the only one to file nomination".[18] Poonawalla had shared his interest in contesting the election but expressed his frustration that Rahul Gandhi enjoyed "unfair advantage" in the party for being the member of Nehru–Gandhi family. His action of going public with such an allegation was criticized by the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Ashok Chavan who dismissed it as an attempt of getting "cheap publicity".[17] Poonawalla family including Shehzad's mother and his brother Tehseen, who is the brother-in-law of Robert Vadra (brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi), cut off ties with Shehzad after this incident as the family supported the elevation of Rahul Gandhi for party's presidency and expected Shehzad to raise the matter at the inter-party forum instead of approaching media.[19] However, he was lauded by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was campaigning for his party during the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, and called him "brave".[16]

Shehzad quit the INC in 2017 and joined the BJP, after differences with the INC.[10]

Bharatiya Janata Party[edit | edit source]

After quitting the Indian National Congress, Poonawalla joined the Bhartiya Janata Party and was appointed as IT and Social Media department in-charge of the party's Delhi unit by Adesh Gupta.[20] He was later elevated to the position of National Spokesperson and became one of the party's prominent media panelists, often engaging in debates on national television.[21][1]

A few hours before the Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute, Poonawalla asked on Twitter to retweet his post related to the dispute if they supported Rama and ignore it if they were "sons of Babur".[12] He was immediately warned by the Kaushambi Police of an action against him if he would not delete the tweet which he later did out of “respect for the police”.[12]

In July 2026, Poonawalla updated his X (formerly Twitter) biography to remove all references to the BJP and his role as national spokesperson. The updated bio described him as a "lifelong follower" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an author of the book GST Ki Yatra, and stated: "Religion Islam, Culture Hindu, Ideology Bhartiya". Multiple media outlets reported, citing sources, that he had submitted his resignation to the BJP leadership citing personal reasons. He had earlier indicated in interviews that he had planned to step away from active politics after the 2024 general elections but had stayed on to assist the party in subsequent state elections including in Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana and West Bengal.[1][2][3][21][22]

Activism[edit | edit source]

Poonawalla is a political and social activist and civil rights activist. He was a strong proponent for an anti-lynching bill, Manav Suraksha Kanoon (lit. 'Human Protection Law'), and came against cow vigilante violence in India. He is active on Twitter and uses the platform for sharing his political criticism including against the leaders of Congress.[7] He has been vocal about the issues related to students' welfare and freedom in the universities including related to Banaras Hindu University, Film and Television Institute of India and Jawaharlal Nehru University in media.[13] In 2013, he was a petitioner before the National Commission for Minorities in a case concerning housing discrimination.[4][8] He has written opinion articles on political and policy issues and is the author of the book GST Ki Yatra (2025), which discusses the Goods and Services Tax reforms in India.[8]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Shehzad Poonawala, BJP's TV Face, Quits Party Citing 'Personal Reasons'". NDTV. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Shehzad Poonawalla Quits BJP Citing Personal Reasons, Updates X Bio". News18. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Shehzad Poonawalla quits Bharatiya Janata Party, updates X bio". Hindustan Times. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Who is Shehzad Poonawalla – the man who challenged Rahul Gandhi's candidature for Congress Presidential polls". Financial Express. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Prabhu, Sunil (4 April 2024). "A Spokesperson Exodus: They Were Congress's Voice, Now They Speak For BJP". NDTV. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  6. ↑ Poonawalla, Shehzad (17 September 2015). "What Ganesha means to a Muslim like me". India TV. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Phadke, Manasi (5 July 2018). "The burden of 'self-styled Congressmen' Poonawallas on the party". The Print. Mumbai. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Pune-Born, BJP's Fiery Voice: Who Is Shehzad Poonawalla, Who Just Resigned?". News18. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Who is Shehzad Poonawalla? The Congress man questioning Rahul Gandhi's elevation". Moneycontrol. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 ANSHUMAN, KUMAR (December 4, 2017). "Shehzad Poonawalla: The TV talking head challenging Rahul Gandhi's elevation in Congress". The Print. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  11. ↑ "Shehzad Poonawalla Educational qualification". News18 Hindi. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Bhardwaj, Deeksha (9 November 2019). "Delete political tweets on Ayodhya verdict, UP police tells Shehzad Poonawalla, Rana Ayyub". The Print. New Delhi. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Who is Shehzad Poonawalla? The Congressman questioning Rahul Gandhi's elevation". Moneycontrol.com. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Maharashtra: Poonawalla is Congress's counter to Asaduddin Owaisi". The Asian Age. Mumbai. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar Chief Minister". The Indian Express. New Delhi. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Sanyal, Anindita (4 December 2017). "Praised By PM, Congress Rebel Shehzad Poonawalla Talks Of Secret Tape". NDTV. Mumbai. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Rahul Gandhi's office insulted me, claims Shehzad Poonawalla". Zee News. Zee Media Bureau. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  18. ↑ Marwaha, Nonika (11 December 2017). "Congress President Election: Rahul Gandhi Officially Named Congress Chief". NDTV. New Delhi. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Don't know anyone by name of Shehzad Poonawalla: Tehseen disowns his own brother". Daily News & Analysis. Asian News International. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "BJP appoints Shehzad Poonawala as IT, Social Media dept in-charge of Delhi unit". India Today.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Pandey, Neelam (31 July 2026). "Congressman-turned-'fiery' BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla removes party name from X bio". ThePrint. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
  22. ↑ "BJP spokesman Shehzad Poonawalla resigns from party". The Tribune. 31 July 2026. Retrieved 31 July 2026.
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