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Hiren Joshi, PMO: Profile, Bio, Education, Wife and Family



Dr. Hiren Joshi, often referred to as the “media czar” of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), is one of the most powerful yet low-profile figures around Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As Officer on Special Duty (OSD – Communications & IT) in the PMO, he has been widely credited with shaping Modi’s digital image, managing his social media presence, and influencing how the government’s narrative is projected across mainstream and digital media. (ETGovernment.com)

Early Life, Education & Academic Background

Publicly available information on Hiren Joshi’s personal life is limited, but some professional details are documented:

  • He is an electronics engineer by training, having studied in Pune.

  • He went on to complete a PhD from the Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management (IIITM), Gwalior.

  • Before entering politics and government, he spent around 18 years in academia. He served as an assistant professor at Manikya Lal Verma Textile & Engineering College, Bhilwara (Rajasthan). (ETGovernment.com)

A profile in The Economic Times recounts that Joshi was essentially a career academic and tech professional, not a typical political operative. That changed after a now-famous incident at an engineers’ event in Gujarat: when a technical glitch threatened to disrupt a programme attended by then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Joshi reportedly fixed the issue within minutes. Impressed by his technical capability and calm under pressure, Modi took note — and Joshi’s life trajectory changed. (The Economic Times)

Entry into Politics: From Gujarat CMO to Modi’s Digital Brain

Around 2008, Hiren Joshi began working closely with Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) as an Officer on Special Duty. His mandate: to build and manage Modi’s digital presence. (Newslaundry)

Key elements of his Gujarat phase include:

  • Managing Modi’s blogs, website and early social media accounts.

  • Using specialised software to track and optimise the Chief Minister’s schedule – analytical charts mapping meetings, time spent, follow-ups and visitor prioritisation. (The Economic Times)

  • Experimenting with multilingual outreach, helping translate Modi’s tweets into several Indian languages like Urdu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali. (The Economic Times)

By the early 2010s, Joshi was already known in political and media circles as Modi’s “social media guru” or “digital strategist”, one of the key architects behind what many analysts later described as India’s first truly data-driven national campaign in 2014. (Newslaundry)

Moving to Delhi: Hiren Joshi in the PMO

When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, Hiren Joshi moved from Gandhinagar to New Delhi and joined the PMO. He continued in essentially the same role but with a far bigger canvas: India’s national and global digital image. (ThePrint)

Some major milestones:

  • 2014 onwards – Joins PMO as OSD, handling communications and information technology, with a central role in digital strategy and social media management for the Prime Minister. (ThePrint)

  • 2019 – The PMO issues a note appointing him as OSD (Communications & IT) in Joint Secretary rank (Level-14), effectively formalising and extending his tenure in the PMO. (ETGovernment.com)

  • He is regularly listed on official rosters as “Dr. Hiren Joshi, OSD (Communications & IT)” in the Prime Minister’s team. (PM India)

A Print profile on Modi’s “A-team” in the PMO describes Joshi as the officer who manages the Prime Minister’s social media and plays a key role in managing the media narrative around him. (ThePrint)

Role and Responsibilities: The “Media Czar” of the PMO

Multiple reports and journalistic accounts portray Hiren Joshi as far more than a technical social-media manager. He is often described as:

  • The architect of Modi’s digital persona, including posts, tweets and online messaging. (The Economic Times)

  • A strategist who studies data, sentiment, and social media trends to align messaging with political objectives. (Newslaundry)

  • A central node between the PMO and media owners, editors and anchors, especially in the TV news ecosystem. (The News Minute)

Some reported aspects of his work:

  • Overseeing multilingual social media campaigns, such as Modi’s tweets in Japanese before his 2014 visit to Japan – an operation that required embassy coordination and specialised translation tools. (The Economic Times)

  • Ensuring the PM’s websites and digital assets go live at precise politically important moments, such as during the 2014 swearing-in, which ET reported as one of his most intense technical days. (The Economic Times)

  • Providing the PM with nightly updates on online activity, public sentiment, and key messages that deserve attention or response. (The Economic Times)

A widely cited line from long-form commentary says that Joshi isn’t just part of Modi’s ecosystem, he is like the “motherboard” of that ecosystem, silently powering and coordinating much of what the public sees and hears. (The News Minute)

Influence in Power Corridors

Over time, Hiren Joshi’s stature within the PMO appears to have grown significantly:

  • Journalists who cover the PMO have described him as “quite powerful”, saying Union ministers and BJP chief ministers prefer to stay on his “good side”. (Newslaundry)

  • A 2024 analysis on the PMO’s composition noted that Joshi, together with fellow aide Pratik Doshi, forms a core part of Modi’s “Team Gujarat” – close associates from Modi’s chief minister days who now occupy top advisory posts in Delhi. (The Wire)

He is also frequently described as soft-spoken in person but omnipresent in effect, someone who generally avoids the limelight yet is routinely referred to as one of the most powerful non-elected figures in the PMO. (The News Minute)

Controversies, Allegations and Criticisms

Because of his pivotal position at the intersection of media, politics and power, Hiren Joshi has inevitably been at the centre of several public controversies. It is important to emphasise that many of these are allegations, not proven legal findings.

1. Allegations of Pressuring Media (AAP vs BJP)

In September 2022, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal publicly alleged that Hiren Joshi was pressuring Gujarati media outlets to curtail coverage of the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of elections. (Newslaundry)

A detailed investigation by Newslaundry reported:

  • Some journalists and editors claimed there was subtle pressure to give AAP less prominence, describing coverage as “very one-sided” in favour of the BJP.

  • Others, however, denied receiving any calls from Joshi and said they continued to cover AAP without interference. (Newslaundry)

  • The PMO did not publicly respond, while BJP leaders dismissed Kejriwal as a “bayan bahadur” (loudmouth) and rejected the allegations. (Newslaundry)

The same report also noted that former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had, on earlier occasions, accused Joshi of using online “trolls” to target him – accusations Swamy made on social media, again without any formal legal case publicly known in this context. (Newslaundry)

2. Questions About Surveillance and Past Investigations

Some journalists quoted in investigative pieces have alleged that Joshi was involved in monitoring political opponents and party workers during his Gujarat days, and that his office was once searched by the CBI in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case. These claims are reported as part of media narratives and personal recollections; they are not, as of now, part of any widely publicised court conviction against him. (Newslaundry)

3. 2025 Congress Allegations: Business Links & Betting App

In December 2025, the Indian National Congress significantly escalated its attack on Hiren Joshi. At a press conference, party spokesperson Pawan Khera:

  • Called Joshi “the most powerful person in the PMO”.

  • Alleged that he had undisclosed business interests and foreign links, and hinted at a connection to a betting app, asking: “Which betting app did he have a stake in?” (NewsDrum)

  • Framed the issue as one of national security, demanding transparency about Joshi’s foreign travels, associations, and commercial relationships. (NewsDrum)

A separate commentary piece described the situation as a “Hiren Joshi paradox”, noting that someone long feared in media circles is now facing intense scrutiny himself, including speculative references to supposed links with the Mahadev Betting App case – a large money-laundering and illegal betting scandal. (powercorridors.in)

As of early December 2025:

  • These are political and media allegations, not established judicial findings.

  • No detailed official response from the PMO or Joshi himself had been published in mainstream outlets cited here. (NewsDrum)

4. Accusations of “Throttling” the Media

Congress leaders and several journalists have accused Joshi of:

  • Acting as an informal gatekeeper of what gets amplified or muted in Indian TV news.

  • “Throttling media” and playing a key role in “murdering democracy”, as alleged by Pawan Khera, who claims he exerts undue influence over editors and anchors. (NewsDrum)

On the other side, some editors insist they have never received a direct call from him telling them what to run, suggesting that owner-level self-censorship or broader political pressure may be more important than direct instructions. (Newslaundry)

Given the absence of transparent documentation from inside the PMO, much of this remains in the realm of contested perception.

Recent Buzz: Is Hiren Joshi Leaving the PMO?

In late 2025, several reports and commentary pieces triggered intense speculation about Hiren Joshi’s future in the PMO:

  • One widely shared report suggested that Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had been asked, at least temporarily, to oversee the responsibilities previously handled by Joshi, with talk of a replacement being considered. (NewsDrum)

  • A long explanatory piece, originally from Newslaundry and republished by The News Minute, painted a vivid picture of Delhi’s political and media class buzzing with rumours about his “exit” or “sidelining”, even as there was no official announcement from the PMO. (The News Minute)

As of 4 December 2025, the situation appears fluid:

  • Official PMO lists and government directories have continued to describe him as OSD (Communications & IT), but media reports suggest his role may be changing or that an administrative reshuffle is underway. (Sarkaritel.com)

  • Political opponents are using the uncertainty to intensify demands for disclosure about his alleged business and foreign dealings. (NewsDrum)

Personal Life & Public Image

Very little is publicly documented about Hiren Joshi’s family life, hobbies or personal beliefs. He rarely appears in front of cameras and does not maintain a visible public-facing social media persona in his own name.

From the available reporting, he is generally described as:

  • Soft-spoken, low-profile and intensely work-focused. (The News Minute)

  • A technocrat who prefers data, dashboards and backroom coordination over public speeches or party-political grandstanding. (The Economic Times)

This combination of high influence + low visibility is one reason why his name attracts so much curiosity – and, increasingly, controversy.

Top Interesting Facts About Hiren Joshi (PMO)

  1. Ex-Professor Turned Power Broker
    Before entering politics, Joshi spent nearly two decades teaching engineering in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, making his rise to being one of the PMO’s most powerful figures quite unusual. (ETGovernment.com)

  2. Discovered by Fixing a Glitch
    His first big break reportedly came when he fixed a technical glitch during an event attended by then CM Narendra Modi — a real-life “Bollywood-style” discovery story. (The Economic Times)

  3. Architect of Multilingual Modi
    Joshi is widely credited with orchestrating Modi’s multilingual social media push, including tweets in Japanese, and a broad range of Indian languages, long before such localisation became standard. (The Economic Times)

  4. Data-Driven Campaigns
    He has been named in media analyses as a key figure in turning Modi’s campaigns into data-led operations, using analytics to shape messaging and outreach. (Newslaundry)

  5. Feared and Courted by Media
    Several journalists describe him as someone editors, channel heads and anchors do not want to antagonise, given his perceived influence over access, interviews and government advertising. (The News Minute)

  6. Centre of a National Debate on Media Freedom
    Allegations against him — from pressuring coverage of AAP, to “murdering democracy”, to questions over business links — have made him a symbol in the broader debate about media independence, state power and digital control in India. (Newslaundry)

FAQs About Hiren Joshi (PMO)

Q1. Who is Hiren Joshi in the PMO?
A. Dr. Hiren Joshi is an Officer on Special Duty (OSD – Communications & IT) in the Prime Minister’s Office of India. He is a long-time aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, responsible for managing the PM’s digital presence and playing a major role in media and communication strategy. (ETGovernment.com)

Q2. What is Hiren Joshi’s educational background?
A. Joshi is an electronics engineer from Pune and holds a PhD from the Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management (IIITM), Gwalior). He previously worked as an assistant professor at the Manikya Lal Verma Textile & Engineering College in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, with roughly 18 years of teaching experience. (ETGovernment.com)

Q3. How did Hiren Joshi start working with Narendra Modi?
A. According to media reports, he came to Modi’s attention in 2008 after resolving a technical glitch at an event of engineers in Gujarat. Impressed, Modi brought him in as an OSD in the Gujarat CMO, initially to manage his digital presence and social media, and later to design tech-driven systems for time management and outreach. (The Economic Times)

Q4. Why is Hiren Joshi controversial?
A. Joshi has been accused by several political opponents and some journalists of:

  • Pressuring media outlets to reduce coverage of opposition parties like AAP. (Newslaundry)

  • Exercising outsized control over TV news narratives. (The News Minute)

  • Having undisclosed business and foreign links, including speculative references to a betting app, as alleged by Congress spokespersons. (NewsDrum)

These remain allegations, and no court has, as of this writing, publicly convicted him on such charges.

Q5. Is Hiren Joshi still in the PMO?
A. Official directories as of late 2025 continue to list him as OSD (Communications & IT), but multiple media reports suggest there is “buzz” about a reshuffle, with some responsibilities reportedly being overseen by other senior figures such as Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. There has been no clear, detailed public statement from the PMO about his exact current status. (Sarkaritel.com)

Q6. What is Hiren Joshi’s age?
A. A 2014 Economic Times profile described him as 44 years old at that time. Assuming that is accurate, he would have been born around 1970, but his exact date of birth is not officially published in the sources cited. (The Economic Times)

Q7. Is Hiren Joshi active on social media in his own name?
A. Ironically, although he is widely seen as the mastermind behind Narendra Modi’s online persona, Joshi himself maintains a very low public profile. There is no widely known, verified, public-facing social media account in his name that plays a major role in public debate, and he rarely appears on camera or in interviews. (The News Minute)


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