Youngest candidate in Gujarat: He rose up chord by chord

VADODRA: At 33, Hemang Joshi stands out as the youngest contender in Gujarat’s upcoming Lok Sabha elections. What’s fascinating about Joshi’s journey is how music seems to thread through every step, from his days as a student leader to becoming the BJP’s candidate for Vadodara Lok Sabha seat.
Joshi’s journey to prominence began with a simple ‘sanedo’, a folk drama form, which he penned during his time as a student at M S University’s Faculty of Social Work.This creative endeavour, themed around cleanliness, gained widespread acclaim. It was institutionalised by MSU and received endorsement from the then chief minister, Anandiben Patel, in Oct 2015. Singer Bhoomi Trivedi lent her voice to it, too.
The ‘sanedo’ then found its way into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme in July 2016, earning Joshi a letter of appreciation from the PMO — a letter that the young candidate has preserved. It was the first time that a university student’s initiative was mentioned in the PM’s programme.
“That is my creative side,” quips Joshi, a physiotherapy graduate and a postgraduate in human resource management. The ABVP leader was elected uncontested as general secretary of the Faculty of Social Work in 2015.
In 2021, Joshi penned lyrics and composed a song titled ‘ Ame Vado dara na matdar ’, which the BJP launched ahead of the local body election. A year later, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Nagar Prathmik Shikshan Samiti, the school board of Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC).
As it happened, this HR professional and his wife were attending a musical programme at Sursagar Lake on Holi when he started receiving congratulatory calls. That’s how he learned that BJP had fielded him from Vadodara after political twists and turns led to the sitting MP, Ranjan Bhatt, pulling out of the race.
“I was certainly surprised,” said Joshi, who aims to win the elections by a margin of more than 10 lakh.
As a former student leader, Joshi’s activism on campus ranged from advocating for better govt hostel buildings to challenging the overnight removal of hostel students. His group also made a representation against “anti-national” content that led to the cancellation of a comedy night show of stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra in 2018.
Joshi, who has done a course on leadership in education from IIM Ahmedabad and is currently pursuing PhD in leadership from MSU, is among the last lot of student leaders to have climbed up the ladder of student politics. Following the implementation of Gujarat Public Universities Act last year, there will be no representation of students — the main stakeholders in universities — on the board of management that forms the core of the day-to-day operation of universities like MSU.