Journalist-turned-politician Isudan Gadhvi was declared Aam Aadmi Party’s chief minister face on Friday. This is a big leap for Gadhvi who is a farmer’s son from a small town Jam-Khambhaliya in Saurashtra. At 40, he is less than two years old in politics and in his own way, he has scripted history.
Gadhvi studied journalism and mass communication at 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. He quit journalism because he felt there was a ‘Lakshman Rekha’ that was barring him from bringing effective change in people’s lives.
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 my entire life, not even a single member of my family has held a political position, even of a sarpanch.
When AAP conducted an opinion poll for its CM candidate, the party received 16,48,500 responses and 73% of them took Isudanbhai Gadhvi’s name.
In Vibes of India’s exclusive interview with Isudan Gadhvi he talks about addressing issues of the rural people of Gujarat. Even as a journalist Gadhvi addressed issues of farmers–land, fertilizer, electricity, poverty–as if they were his own issues.
In this interview, he said, “Once when I visited an Adivasi farmer in Gujarat, he said that I just have Rs 110 in the house. Imagine the unfortunate situation of our people amidst inflation. Through our party, we want to work for farmers and provide them electricity, employment and a better standard of living.”
Watch the complete video here:
