It's a million-dollar question that only the opposition raises in India: who's going to succeed Prime Minister Narendra Modi? There are a couple of obvious names — safe bets, as they say.

But back in Gujarat, Modi's home state, Harsh Sanghavi is one of the fastest-rising figures in Indian politics. He was the youngest MLA at 27, and went on to become the youngest home minister at 36. To put that achievement in context: the home department, by convention, goes to a political heavyweight second only to the chief minister. It's amply clear that Harsh has the confidence of the top leadership. His growing stature was formalised last year when he was made deputy chief minister of Gujarat, having just turned 40.

A go-getter and a doer, Harsh is often described as the "Amit Shah of Gujarat." Thanks to his media-savvy persona, he has become the face not just of the state government but of the party itself.

Born into a Jain business family, Harsh grew up in Surat and joined the Sangh — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh — at the age of 14, and was politically active from his college days onward. He made decisive moves early in life, working as an entrepreneur before taking the plunge into politics. He's a self-made politician driven by pragmatism as much as ideology.

Harsh has championed several public initiatives — including the fight against sickle cell anaemia — and worked at the grassroots, building a strong political profile through dedicated social service. He's proven himself a reliable vote-getter, and over the years Surat has become his political bastion. Handing internal security across the state to a hard-nosed, locally rooted politician from the Surat region is a shrewd move.

The obvious conclusion: a future leader is being nurtured for national politics — a deliberate, generational investment by the party. The greatest challenges of his political career still lie ahead.

Beyond home affairs, Harsh has been handed a host of additional departments: police, sports and youth affairs, transport, industries, tourism, civil aviation, excise, and border security and prisons.

Under his leadership, the state home ministry has been a hive of activity: anti-narcotics crackdowns, cybercrime awareness and prevention, demolition drives, and a police initiative that returned stolen valuables worth about ₹500 crore to 40,811 beneficiaries over the last three years. There's a concerted employment push underway, alongside various sports initiatives aimed at honing young talent — talent that will, one hopes, win medals for India and make the country proud. All this comes in the run-up to next year's assembly elections. 

Harsh will also be tasked with ensuring Ahmedabad is ready to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games — the centenary edition of the sporting event, with 74 nations set to participate.

At the closing ceremony of the just-concluded 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Sanghavi formally accepted the Commonwealth Games flag and host baton on behalf of Ahmedabad. He used the visit to lay operational groundwork on several fronts, including venue management, logistics, and city planning. The ambition doesn't stop there: there's talk of Gujarat hosting the Olympics by 2047.

When I look at Harsh, I see the future of the BJP.