Who Is Hiren Joshi? Why Everyone Is Talking About Him
Hiren Joshi, the media advisor of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), has once again become a talking point on the microblogging platform X, with several users branding him of being the mastermind of the BJP IT cell. Many handles came out, labeling Joshi as the one who “plays with Indian democracy” and is behind “destroying the image of all opposition leaders.”
Joshi has been running Narendra Modi’s social media accounts, Blogs, websites and media relations even before the latter took charge as India’s prime minister in 2014.
It was in 2022 that a first such charge was levelled against Joshi by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal. In the run up to the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Kejriwal alleged that Joshi had been pressuring the media houses into curtailing coverage of the AAP and its election campaigns. The AAP chief, notably, made the charges at a time when his party was poised to challenge the decades-long hold of the BJP in power in Gujarat.
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Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta today, November 20, released a “rare picture” showing Joshi sitting with Prime Minister Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G20 meeting. Sharing the image and marking Joshi’s face with a red line, who is seen sitting in a corner of the table, the journalist asked, “Did you know that Joshi (not Amit Malviya) is the mastermind behind the BJP’s IT Cell?”
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A rare picture: The man whose photograph is encircled is the low-profile but extremely powerful media advisor to PM Modi, Dr Hiren Joshi, at a meeting with the Italian PM at the G20 meeting. Did you know that Joshi (not Amit Malviya) is the mastermind behind the BJP’s IT Cell? pic.twitter.com/uhh31ybmL8
— ParanjoyGuhaThakurta (@paranjoygt) November 20, 2024
Notably, sharing Thakurta’s post on his X handle, India’s former Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S.Y. Quraishi wrote, “Received this interesting information today! Did you know? I didn’t.”
Received this interesting information today! Did you know? I didn’t. pic.twitter.com/hADLubLXfo
— Dr. S.Y. Quraishi (@DrSYQuraishi) November 20, 2024
Sharing the same image, a political commentator, Mohit Chauhan, alleged all the media owners, editors, and anchors are dancing to Joshi’s WhatsApp tunes. “He (Joshi) is the man who is playing with the democracy of India. He is the mastermind behind destroying the image of all opposition leaders. Never forget, never forgive!” Chauhan wrote on his X handle.
Mr. Hiren Joshi—The media advisor of PMO
All media owners, editors and anchors dance on his WhatsApp tunes. He is the man who is playing with the Democracy of India. He is the mastermind behind destroying the image of all Opposition leaders.
Never Forget, Never Forgive!👈 pic.twitter.com/XqTUVrYmkL
— Mohit Chauhan (@newt0nlaws) November 20, 2024
However, given the allegations that were earlier raised by the AAP leader at a time when his party made significant strides in key civic polls in Surat and Gandhinagar in addition to panchayat elections, people are wondering who Hiren Joshi actually is. Initially Congress had made similar allegations when its spokesperson Pawan Khera raised the same issue but without naming Joshi in 2021.
Who Is Hiren Joshi
Regarded as the eyes and ears of Prime Minister Modi, Joshi is the special officer for communications and IT in the PMO. He oversees the Prime Minister’s online footprint and digital image building, and the proximity between the two is thus undoubted.
According to a report by Economic Times, Prime Minister Modi first met Joshi at an event organized by the Gujarat government in 2008 when he was working as an assistant professor of electronics and communication engineering at the Manikya Lal Verma Textile and Engineering College in Bhilwara. The then Gujarat chief minister picked him to handle his media image since then. Joshi comes from Rajasthan’s Banswara, and he studied electronics engineering in Pune and completed his PhD at the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management in Gwalior.
Joshi has been working with Modi since 2008 and was instrumental in building Modi’s websites in different languages and crafting his image over the years. Right from Modi’s elevation as the country’s Prime Minister, Joshi was also elevated to PMO in 2014 and promoted as joint secretary in 2019.
A report by the Newslaundry in 2022 mentions that even union ministers and BJP chief ministers want to be in Joshi’s good books, citing a senior journalist covering the Prime Minister’s office.
Notably, the report prepared on the backdrop of the AAP’s allegations of media blackout at BJP’s behest further noted that several journalists in Gujarat have given testimonies that there was pressure from the BJP to give Kejriwal’s party less space. However, many others have expressed their objection to the allegations of Joshi’s high-handedness in keeping AAP from due coverage, stating that they treated BJP and Congress as the main players in the election and gave AAP due coverage.
News launder cited an editor saying that the coverage in Gujarat was very one-sided and that there was “only BJP in TV and newspapers,” while quoting another editor saying that it required substantial editorial courage to give space to a report on AAP.
However, with fresh debate surrounding Joshi, the AAP’s allegations and previous histories of his engagement with the country’s media houses assume greater importance.
