Shehzad Poonawalla quits politics? Social media activity sparks buzz

Shehzad Poonawalla quits politics? Social media activity sparks buzz

BJP's Shehzad Poonawalla has stirred buzz over resigning from active politics after he updated his X bio by removing the 'National Spokesperson' tag and also reposted several of his old interviews where he talked about quitting.

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla has sparked buzz over quitting politics after updating his X bio to drop the 'National Spokesperson, BJP' designation. Simultaneously, Poonawalla also reposted clips from old interviews in which he talks about considering quitting active politics. The 38-year-old, however, has not explicitly said whether he's decided to quit the BJP and active politics.

On Thursday, he shared a screenshot of his updated X bio that read, "Religion: Islam, Culture: Hindu, Ideology: Bhartiya. Author: GST Ki Yatra ; Lifelong follower of PM Narendra Modi." The caption simply read "My updated bio".

The 38-year-old's Instagram profile, however, still shows him as the national spokesperson of the BJP.

He retweeted two of his old videos, one dated July 9 and another June 28, wherein he explained that political contributions need not be made only as electoral representatives.

In one of the videos, he said that social service is much bigger than politics. In the same clip, he also revealed how he was ready to quit after the 2025 Lok Sabha polls.

"There was a video of PM Narendra Modi that had gone viral wherein he looked very emotional after returning to power for the third time. Seeing his expressions and knowing that a few important elections were coming at the time, such as Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana, I decided to stick around. I decided to work hard to win these elections to send a message (of their political strength in the country) and then step away from active politics," he said in the video.

He retweeted both these videos almost two hours after sharing the screenshot of his updated X bio.

Poonawalla has been a vocal critic of the Opposition and routinely appears as the BJP national spokesperson on television news shows, and political forums and debates. In 2021, he was made in-charge of the BJP's social media wing in Delhi. A lawyer and activist, the 38-year-old started his political journey with the Congress and shot to fame in 2017 when he publicly rebelled against his former party by calling out dynasty politics to favour Rahul Gandhi's rise as the party chief.