For years, Tehseen and Shehzad Poonawalla have sparred over politics. While Tehseen backs the Congress, Shehzad just quit as a BJP member. An official post or not, the two brothers are still finding new ways to take political digs at each other. The latest was Rahul Gandhi blended with sugar and ethanol.
Brothers Tehseen and Shehzad Poonawalla have spent years on opposite sides of India’s political landscape. Their prime-time debates, with Tehseen backing the Congress and Shehzad making a case for the BJP, were a feast for TV news watchers. Though Shehzad recently quit as a BJP national spokesperson and a primary member, he has ensured that it isn’t seen as the end of the brotherly fight between the two.
While Tehseen, the elder sibling, is fighting against the rushed implementation of ethanol-blended petrol (E20) and the sugar policy, Shehzad is highlighting issues faced by the tax-paying middle class.
On Sunday, Shehzad took a swipe at Tehseen over a post targeting the Centre’s ethanol and sugar policy. The exchange has once again put the spotlight on one of the more unusual sibling relationships in Indian politics, between brothers who have long been against each other in political debates on TV, and on social media.
Tehseen claimed he was put under “house arrest” and posted a video of him offering sugarcane juice to Delhi Police personnel who were stationed outside his apartment.
His latest protest came even as India removed duties to import sugar. Diversion of cane for production of ethanol in India, a leading sugar exporter, has been linked to the shortage of sugar in the country.
Taking aim at the government’s sugar policy and the E20 petrol issue, Tehseen wrote on X that the “sugar scam” was making the common citizen pay more for sugar while alleging that vehicle owners were suffering because of ethanol-blended petrol. He also alleged that the system was “making sons of netas become millionaires”.
The next day, Shehzad responded to his brother.
“Dearest Tehseen,” he wrote, before asking, “Is your pal Rahul Gandhi a beneficiary of ‘Beta Badhao’ yojana? Since you made this about netas children.”
He followed it up with another question: “Why so selective?”
Shehzad then questioned Rahul Gandhi’s political credentials and said he was “not fit to even be a booth level leader”, while asking why he was called “Jannayak”.
The exchange is significant not merely because of what was said about Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, but because of who said it, and to whom.
The Poonawalla brothers have for years been among the most recognisable siblings in India’s political landscape. Their political positions have taken them in polar opposite directions. Before he left the saffron party, Shehzad had become one of the BJP’s most vocal faces on television after leaving the Congress in 2017, while Tehseen has generally been associated with the Congress side of the political spectrum and has frequently criticised the BJP government.
Their differences have not remained confined to political ideology.
In interviews, Tehseen has spoken about the strain their political differences have placed on their personal relationship. He has said that the brothers have not had the kind of conversation one would normally expect between siblings for years.
Asked in an interview about their equation off camera, particularly given that they frequently fought on television debates, Tehseen said there was no “bhai wali baat-cheet (brotherly conversation)” between them. He also spoke about the emotional distance that had developed between the two.
TEHSEEN AND SHEHZAD’S ON CAMERA RELATIONSHIP MANUFACTURED?
Tehseen and Shehzad’s relationship on camera has often fuelled speculation that the rivalry could be manufactured for television or social media. But Tehseen has rejected that suggestion, saying that if the disagreements were merely a political or television arrangement, the relationship would not have reached the point where the brothers stopped speaking to each other.
The latest exchange comes at an interesting moment in Shehzad’s political journey.
Shehzad, a lawyer by training, began his political career with the Congress but broke with the party in 2017, strongly opposing the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president and criticising what he described as “dynastic politics”. He then joined the BJP and became one of its most prominent national spokespersons, particularly on television debates and social media.
But that political chapter has now formally ended.
Shehzad resigned from the BJP in August, citing “pressing personal and financial circumstances” and saying that he planned to move to the private sector. He had first submitted his resignation on July 30, but the party had asked him to reconsider. He later reiterated his decision and sought to be relieved of his organisational responsibilities and primary membership.
Shehzad made it clear that leaving the BJP does not mean abandoning his political beliefs. In his resignation letter, he said he was leaving the party’s “vyavastha”, but not the “vyakti” or “vichar”, and expressed his continued support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s larger ideological vision.
As an activist, Shehzad is championing tax relief and greater accountability for India’s salaried middle class. He argues that taxpayers are not getting adequate public services in return for the taxes, tolls and other levies they pay, and is calling for lower or even zero personal income tax for salaried middle-class Indians until public infrastructure and civic services improve.
