Hiren Joshi Resignation Firestorm Rages Speculation Bazar

As Delhi buzzes with theories over Hiren Joshi’s alleged rift with Prime Minister Modi, the quiet reshuffle following A.B.P. Sehgal’s exit signals a deeper restructuring of the government-party media machinery.

By MANISH ANAND

New Delhi, December 7, 2025 — Two months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hiren Joshi revealed his iron-fisted grip on media management to an editor of a national daily with southern footprints. “Here are answers to your questions,” Joshi told the editor, whose faced turned red and twisted instantly exemplifying the meaning of “ashen faced.”

“Is this for what I flew to Delhi from …,” he mumbled. Seeing editor’s miserable conditions, Delhi-based political journalist of the daily asked Joshi: “Hope our appointment with the Prime Minister is on?”

“Yes! You have your appointment, and you may ask any questions other than those which are already answered,” Joshi replied. The twisted face of the editor found its shape. From a state of a corpse without a spine lying on the floor, he regained his bodily shape.

The 35-minute interview went on for almost 55-minute. The Prime Minister responded to several questions, which were not part of the e-mail questionnaire for which written answers were provided. Further details of the episode may need space of a book. But the editor wasn’t able to recover from Joshi’s earlier blow, as he remained a docile participant in the conversation.

For a fortnight, the social media is burning with feverish speculations on the fate of Joshi. To give an intensity of a wildfire in Delhi’s Bazar, Navneet Sehgal, chairman of the Prasar Bharti, also has quit in a jiffy.

Sehgal, a powerful bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh, gained national spotlight after he had emerged the dominating shadow in the world of Mayawati when she ruled the Hindi cow-belt state from 2007 to 2012. Sehgal wore no political colours on his sleeve, and he thus found his rehabilitation after a few years with Akhilesh Yadav-led dispensation in UP. Afterwards, Sehgal turned saffron.

Rajdeep Sardesai in his book—2024-The election That Surprised India—calls Joshi “the third most powerful person in the Modi Cabinet.” In the first term of Modi as PM, one Union Minister stunned a group of journalists, who were sitting with him, as he sprung to his feet after seeing the name of the caller on his phone. “Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir,” the Minister told the caller with nervousness written all around his face. The caller was Hiren Joshi.

Hiren Joshi, Modi’s media czar, hails from Gujarat. He has a technical background. Joshi is in his mid-50s. The speculation bazar in Delhi is attributing a host of explanations for his alleged falling out with Modi. But he’s learnt to be still operating from the PMO.

Amid the opaqueness in the Modi government, a time gap may reveal scenes of drama unfolding. Sehgal’s ouster brings credibility, in part, to claims that a media team rejig by Modi is in the works. The third layer of Modi’s media edifice is Anil Baluni, who heads the BJP’s media unit, while also being a Lok Sabha MP. Joshi and Baluni have worked as a team in the Modi dispensation.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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