Shehzad Poonawalla

Shehzad Poonawalla is a prominent civil rights activist and member of Congress Party in India. He is currently the State Secretary of Maharashtra Congress. Shehzad has dropped the use of his surname and adopted the last name "Jai Hind." He has been a strong critic of dynasty politics and has vowed to make a "Dynasty Mukt Congress". He has recently challenged the illegal election of Rahul Gandhi to the post of Congress President and has demanded that more space needs to be made in politics and especially Congress party for non-dynasts. His twitter (@Shehzad_Ind) bio reads "my religion is Islam, culture is Hindu, ideology is Indian. Jai Hind"

Poonawalla recently announced that after talks with his publisher he would be penning his first book documenting his fight against "the dynastic order and their devious secrets and the proceeds will be donated to charity." The book is expected to create huge ripples in the political circle as Shehzad Poonawalla is considered to be the ultimate insider. His book is slated to be out by September 2018.

Early Life & Family

Shehzad Poonawalla was born to Muslim parents Yasmeen & Sarfaraz Poonawalla. He has one elder brother Tehseen Poonawalla, who severed ties with him after his revolt against dynasty politics in Congress party and Rahul Gandhi's "fixed election". From a young age, Shehzad wanted to serve people and often engaged in social service and civil rights activities in Pune. He began working as a Congress activist from 2004 onwards at the local level by supporting grassroots level campaigns, supporting party candidates in the Corporation elections and by taking up causes of slum dwellers and students. In 2007-08 he began working for the NSUI , the student wing of Congress party and also became the Vice President of NSUI in Pune City. Under his leadership, Pune Congress performed well in the PMC elections because he had galvanised young voters to suppprt the party. From 2009 onwards Poonawalla, while still in Ness Wadia college, started saving his pocket money and would often come to Delhi to work voluntarily for Indian National Congress free of cost. He worked in the AICC Media department for a while. He was then deputed to work in Uttar Pradesh Congress in 2012. He also joined Indian Government as an Additional Private Secretary to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs towards the end of 2012 and worked closely with Rajya Sabha MPs to help UPA government.

Important Activities

Shehzad Poonawalla has taken up more than 25 cases in courts, NHRC and NCM against communal hate speech, religious discrimination and for protection of minorities. He had raised the case of "housing discrimination" in Mumbai in 2013 and took up several cases where Muslims, transgenders and Dalits were denied housing and employment. Cases against Mob Lynching were taken up at various platforms by him. Lynching of Junaid in Haryana was taken to NHRC which issued a show cause notice to the Haryana police on the basis of his petition. Currently, Dr Swamy is out on bail in a case against hate speech filed by him. Shehzad was also one of the few persons who crusaded for rights of Hindus in Bangladesh and took up their persecution with Bangladesh High Commission and Government of India in 2014. In 2015-16 he had sued Ram Gopal Verma for his derogatory comments on Lord Ganesha and got the director to apologise and withdraw the comments. In 2017, Poonawalla wrote to Punjab and Jammu Kashmir CM to give minority status and rights to Hindus in Punjab and the Valley especially Kashmiri Pandits.

Health and Fitness

Shehzad Poonawalla is one of the few Indian politicians who takes fitness very seriously. Since a young age Poonawalla, who lost his father to a cardiac arrest at the age of 6, began exercising. Since he could not join a gym or health club at the age of 12 , he began using his school bags and books as weights for resistance training. He would fill his school bag with all his books and run or lift it to train his body. When asked why he was running around with a heavy school bag he would tell onlookers "A health body alone can house a healthy mind". Shehzad Poonawalla's grades improved even more drastically when he started exercising and he had secured 89% in the SSC Board Examinations and was ranked second in his school St. Vincent's High School, Pune. He received many prizes for topping in several subjects including Hindi. Shehzad Poonawalla believes that physical exercise helps build "discipline, focus and concentration" and "dispels negative thinking". He is an advocate of a national sports and fitness policy for India and for a complete ban on artificial stimulants and drugs. Poonawalla does not smoke or drink alcohol for health and fitness reasons.

At age 16, Shehzad Poonawalla started training at a health club in Pune where he made several gym friends. He trained with his gym partner Ruteish Arora, who continues to train in Poona Club, Pune. The duo's training regime would often leave many members gasping as they would do over 1000 abdominal crunches in one session. Poonawalla currently does over 70 push ups in one go and can bench press with 100 kilogram dumbbells on each side. He has been signed by a publisher currently to write a book on fitness and produce training videos which will be released soon.