00:06:05 - Opening and Context 00:09:11 - Purity Politics and Misogyny 00:12:26 - Class Markets of Babas 00:15:21 - Saints versus Celebrity Gurus 00:18:39 - Faith as Economic Ecosystem 00:21:07 - Shock Reels Enter Newsrooms 00:25:22 - Privatization Dismantles Education 00:31:11 - Devotion as Macho Identity 00:34:00 - Cultural Division as Strategy 00:37:05 - Apartments and Caste Segregation 00:39:10 - Tech Drives Cultural Shifts 00:44:05 - Serials Reshape Family Dynamics 00:48:02 - Privacy Splits Households 00:50:15 - Work Drains Intimacy 00:53:00 - Loyalty as Social Myth 00:55:02 - Women Mirror Male Behaviors 00:56:17 - Marriage Anxiety and Retreat 00:59:06 - Safe Sex Decoupled From Marriage 01:03:06 - From Letters to WhatsApp Love 01:06:26 - Loneliness Becomes Normal 01:09:14 - Digital Success Illusions 01:12:06 - Journalism Saturation and Precarity 01:13:00 - Policing Love and Desire 01:14:03 - Politics of Love Jihad 01:15:23 - Class Modernity Hypocrisy 01:17:48 - Campus Origins of Narrative 01:20:27 - Conflict as Business Model 01:21:07 - Division for Electoral Gain 01:22:04 - Datafication and Surveillance 01:23:29 - Data as Currency 01:24:14 - Demolitions and Displacement 01:25:10 - Turning Poor Against Themselves 01:26:14 - Rural Labor Exploited 01:27:25 - Platformization of Domestic Work 01:28:00 - Upper Caste Fertility Anxiety 01:29:11 - Inflation as Contraception 01:30:04 - Tech Replaces Companionship 01:31:21 - AI Companions and Self Love 01:32:13 - Manufactured Hatred Culture 01:34:07 - Normalized Cruelty and Caste 01:35:05 - Power Worship Among Women 01:36:01 - Authoritarian Appeal Explained 01:37:02 - Patriarchy Reinvented 01:38:45 - Marketed Indian Feminism 01:40:12 - Safety Unchanged Despite Feminism 01:42:11 - Feminism’s Class Blindness 01:43:40 - NGO Capture of Reform 01:44:20 - Market Friendly Feminist Narratives 01:45:21 - Closing Remarks
00:00:00 - Intro/Highlights - Ajay Prakash x Kintu Parantu Intro/Highlights - Ajay Prakash x Kintu Parantu These Babas you see on screen spend at least two hours before any sermon, groomed and adorned by their associates in beauty parlors, and then come out and tell us to stay away from pleasures, luxury, lust, anger, greed, and attachment. Imagine , on one hand, people from a good saintly lineage have become yogis, present in this country right now, and on the other hand, these Babas, aged 20, 22, 26, or 30, become millionaires, and yet they make comments about women, Dalits, the poor, the backward, and the country. Look at feminism in India, what we call feminism, womanism, and feminism. Its rise is a mixture of both struggle and passion. It was a passion, and there was a little struggle. But this struggle has nothing to do with the struggling women, who constitute 90% of the country's women, who come from ordinary families. Basically, Indian feminism, or even global feminism, was born from NGOism. Now, what is feminism? If dressing up is feminism, and looking at American or European women is feminism. That's just your personal hobby, isn't it? This isn't feminism. Feminism is about dressing up 24/7. Struggling women or men dress up cheaply for the occasion. A typical woman goes to office in a simple dress, wearing rags. But this feminism of constantly putting things in her nose, in her mouth, and wearing strange clothes, attracts people, right? What kind of ideology is this? Even 30 years ago, women in Delhi weren't allowed to go out after 9:00 pm, and it's not safe today. When feminism didn't exist in Delhi, women weren't allowed to go out, and today, feminism is at its peak. It means there's a lot of feminism here. Even then, women wouldn't go out, and it's still unsafe. So, my point is that the empowerment of feminism had to reach the grassroots level, where women had to be transformed. For example, let's say women are farmers. This is feminism. Women getting the status of farmers is also feminism. They will decide their clothes. We are not involved in that. They have focused all discussions on dressing up, on showing off their bodies. So it suits the market . These days, such reels are coming out that we are left stunned. An aunt and nephew are getting married. An uncle and nephew are getting married. A father and daughter are getting married. Actually, both are involved because the government provides some benefits under the mass marriage scheme. The government gives some things as dowry. Yes, they give some things as gifts. So, the marriage happened for that. It was revealed later. Did n't we hear before, or was it not a trend in society before that people had other relationships. Relationships with others besides their wives? This is part of social acceptance . That was already part of the conversation, the conversation was on the streets. It was in the village fairs. Now that the reel is here, it's reaching you and me. This is the technological aspect. That's why we're seeing this today. You'll see a mother making a reel with her son, creating almost adult scenes. People abuse him every day. He's a teenage child. That's child abuse. Abuse. Child abuse is also when that poor guy gets fat and wanders around like a saint, eating all the food in the world . It doesn't matter to us. Yes, it doesn't matter. That's child abuse too. This is child abuse too. But what 's the discussion about child abuse? This is about the mother. This isn't about this. Again, society only enjoys sexual matters. It does everything, and it would be surprising. All these marriages are reported among the poorest sections of society. Yes, it's among them, because they can't do anything. Well, they think that so-and-so's daughter, so-and-so's son-in-law, so-and- so's son, so-and-so's uncle, will become successful by making reels, and then they get publicity. You see, so many girls from ordinary families have bought cars, built houses , and started YouTube and blogging. So, whatever became fashionable, that's what happened. Did those poor people decide that they had to make reels, that they had to make videos, not become bloggers? This system has decided that this system will no longer allow education. If you take away government schools and colleges from them and you develop riots and reel-making as a career, then the powerful boys, those from dominant castes, whether they are lower caste or upper caste, are going to your riots, looking for a career there, wearing a scarf there, saving the cow. But those who are a little culturally weak or don't feel like rioting, they make reels. They make videos. They film weddings . They make fake rape videos because they go on. Fake rape videos are made. They are caught. The government sometimes bans some, sometimes stops others, but they continue endlessly. Society is built on this fabric. So, we didn't decide to study, nor did we decide to make reels. When you look at it as a society, we'll see that this very society is becoming debauched. A large part of this society is becoming blind followers. A large part of this society is becoming irrational. Riots are like employment in this country. And we get a feeling of belonging to the match. We feel good. When we wear a gamchha of a party, even if we drive an e-rickshaw. Even if we earn 300 rupees, even if our children don't get an education. Even if we can't provide our children with a glass of milk every day, a daily roti with lentils, and an egg or fish if we are non-vegetarians , we live our lives with the pride of the gamchha. This is a new India, created by unemployment and transformed into one where it takes pride. Proud of the very fact that it carries a gamchha. He can stand anywhere. He can say to himself, “ Opening and Context Ajay Prakash sir, thank you very much for coming on this. You travel the entire country, especially North India. You observe society very closely, and from where you come from to Delhi and the rest of the journey you've undertaken is very rich. I thought there are certain things going on in society these days that I should talk to you about. Although you're not a psychoanalyst by training, whenever I talk to you, the way you explain what's happening in society and why is happening. So I was very interested in getting that message across to the audience. With the changes currently taking place in India, society is reacting differently to women . On the one hand, there are very proud parents who are proud of their daughters. On one hand, there are parents who are shooting their daughters to make reels, or there are those who, sitting in front of a large gathering attended by a large number of women, are saying very indecent things about women . Just recently, a religious figure who calls himself a Baba, and in front of whom a large number of people sit to listen to his sermons, said that by the age of 25, girls are already begging for help. And if you marry them after that, will they be able to maintain relationships, ties, and dignity? This is a very dangerous thing. If this is becoming common sense in Indian society, then imagine what men, especially young men who are in the impressionable age, think about women who go out to work and focus on education ? Because they have to continue studying until they are 24-25 years old. This is the age when you finish your studies and enter a career. That means a very big full stop can be put on hold. Besides this, there is another Baba. He said these are empty plots. There's another baba who also spoke similarly, and while talking about the BJP, he said that every female BJP leader advances within the party only through physical exploitation. These are terrible things. They mean excluding women from politics, from education, and from employment. And calling an educated woman who isn't married an empty plot. All these things are pushing women back into the home, into the kitchen, into childbearing. Every now and then, we hear that Hindu women should have so many sons. This is repeatedly said from Mohan Bhagwat on down, even by sadhvis. This is the kind of restraint being imposed on Indian women. How do you view this? I just learned yesterday that the saas-bahu serial has started again. So, the woman who came up playing saas-bahu became the country's Education Minister and the Minister of Women's Welfare. Now she's back to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law thing. So, are men afraid of Indian women? Purity Politics and Misogyny What's going on in this society? Thank you, and this is also a topic of interest to me. First, we'll get to Smriti Irani's serial later . But first, let's talk about the babas who have recently made several clearly negative comments. For example, Premanand said that only two or four out of a hundred women are of good character. Did he say that? Yes, yes. Secondly, Anuruddhacharya said what you were saying, that even 25-year-old girls are not of good character. And the same thing was said by Yeti Narasimhand, who generally stands within the BJP's support system. He was talking about women in the BJP. I'm saying that all these concerns should not be focused on anything else related to women. No. It's just about sex. It's about their sexuality. And not all purity is about calling them illiterate. What is that purity? In Indian society, purity isn't about being a mother. Purity isn't about a girl being intelligent. It's not about being a scientist. It's not about being a sanyasi. Rather, purity means that if you are pure in sexual terms, you will be considered pure. This isn't a current debate . It's a debate between men and women that has been going on for centuries. The good thing is that they are letting go of this. The discussions that people used to have at home —like a man used to say this only among his own people—that women are like this. But when Aniruddhacharya says this on stage in front of women, thousands of women are sitting in front of him. When that 26-year-old young man from Bageshwar Dham, who is currently posing as a Baba, says this, thousands of women are sitting in front of him. When he says that there is an empty plot of land, So now the question is, why do they say this? See, whether they say it or not, women will be pushed back. There's not much scope for that. But there's a market for it. This market must be understood. Just like in the market, there are babas and people from other sections of society. Whenever they talk about women's sexuality, especially women's sexual behavior, it brings them popularity. They gain popularity. They are considered big babas in the market. Otherwise, just think about it: if all these babas don't speak against women's character, or even one or two of them against Muslims, what market do they have? Why would anyone go, why would they listen ? Why would they spend millions and crores on reels? So, they are cursed because of the market. The market is cursed by them, and an ecosystem has been created in which the victims are the weakest in society, whether they are women, Muslims, Dalits, or the poor. Not all babas speak this language. Have Class Markets of Babas you ever heard of that bearded baba from South India? What is his name? Is it Gurudev? Jaggi Vasudev? Jaggi Vasudev never makes any comments about women of 25 years of age because the young girls who visit his court are all above 25 years of age, are IT professionals or come from wealthy families. So the Babas who deal with the poor, be it Aniruddhacharya or this one from Chhatarpur, I can't remember his name, be it this Baba, all these Babas comment on women because women are not their market. Talking about Dhirendra Shastri, Dhirendra Shastri, but women are in Jaggi Vasudev's market. They are his shareholders. Meaning, they are devotees, they are present. They run his ecosystem. Similarly, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will also not make such comments because whoever has a market, he maintains his market and we all are victims. Jaggi Vasudev talks at a different level. It's very interesting that there's a class divide here, where on one side there's the educated and influential class of the South, and on the other side there's the audience from areas with less education, which we call the Hindi belt, and these Babas are catering to that audience . These are very interesting aspects. You understand that these Babas are tied to this ecosystem. I just asked you, and I could ask anyone in the world, if these Babas don't make vulgar comments about women. They make all sorts of vulgar comments on one pretext or another, like the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. But consider that you were telling me, in conversation, that you 're not a psychologist. But there's a Baba named Anuradhacharaya, who deals with family issues from morning till evening. Poor women come there from who knows where and tell them, “My husband is this, I went with him , and this happened to me, that happened to me.” He playfully offers solutions, and those reels sell for lakhs. So, Baba didn't decide that. His social media team decides that Baba, there's a much larger audience who enjoys listening to him, and that's what brings us money. Then that builds a following. Then that builds popularity. And because society sees such derogatory things, such shallow things, these Babas are invited to those places for branding. Just think, the Babas of the Shankaracharya tradition, or the good Babas I could mention, who fight to save the environment and improve society, are never mentioned. No one even asks about them. They fasted and died, Saints versus Celebrity Gurus wanting to save the Ganga. I'm talking about them, Matri Sadan. Yes, there's a Gurudev at Matri Sadan. I can't remember his name, but it's Shivanand Saraswati. Forgive me, Shivanand Saraswati, who alone and because of his sannyasis, owes all the Ganga you see flowing in Haridwar. Go to his ashram. A city dweller might say, “This is a poor ashram,” and right next to it are the ashrams of many mafia babas, where you won't be welcomed. But his ashram is completely natural. His people are natural, they are sannyasis, they wear white clothes. Let me tell you an interesting anecdote, just a small part of it. I once spoke with him, saying, “Swami Shivanand Saraswati is older than you. He sits far away.” I said, “Baba, you lead this movement, three of your people have died. They've been martyred. Why don't you expand this movement? Why don't you take it to society?” He said something, and it was quite remarkable. He said, “The society where our saint dies has no hair, no children, no wife, no lover, no home, no door. He has nothing.” Just for the sake of this country's Ganga and his religious beliefs, he observed a 280-80 day fast here. Forgive me for the sake of fasting, he went on a hunger strike, and barely in the last days, he started drinking lemon water and honey water. I asked him, “Why don't you?” He replied, “When these young saints of ours are there, we ourselves are a female sanyasi. We all fast, we go on hunger strikes. Then this society shows no compassion, no commitment, no concern, no concern for our generations. When we don't come to support us, even if we go to Jantar Mantar in Delhi and go on a hunger strike, we take bullets, it will only corrupt us and do nothing else.” He also said, “We belong to the saint tradition, and saints have only bodies. What do we have besides our bodies ? We can only give our bodies.” So, on the one hand, this is the saint tradition. Swami Shivand Saraswati calls these saints beauty parlor babas. Amazing. These Babas you see on screen are true. This is no secret. Even these Babas know this. Their devotees also know that before any sermon, whether it's a woman or a man, they spend at least two hours in a beauty parlor being groomed and decorated by their associates. And then they come out and tell us to stay away from pleasures, luxury, lust, anger, greed, and attachment. So this isn't a Baba or a sermon. This is an economic ecosystem. Just imagine, on one hand, people from a good saintly lineage, who have become Yogis through their austerity , are present in this country right now. And on the other hand, these Babas of 20, 22, 26, 30 years of age are becoming millionaires. So, is this without any preparation? They are living life in Dubai. They are enjoying life. Think about it. So this is the truth, and these people make comments about women, Dalits, the poor, the backward, and the country Faith as Economic Ecosystem . They do this simply because they have a huge market, and the Babas are created by that market. So, those devotees, the people, need to understand this. The easiest victims in this case are women, and the audience has grown. Just think about the incidents that occurred barely a month and a half ago, where some women resorted to violence. Some were buried in cement, some were cut, some were injured, and some were abused by women. Yes, the poor husband, yes, the poor husband. After that, an atmosphere was created in this country where reel-making girls, reel-making boys, news reporters, debaters, all of them attacked women and started talking about how they have become oppressors. The truth is, the whole world knows that even today, not even 5% of the total violence in man-woman relationships is committed by women. So, all of this we see demonstrates how women are still used as commodities, and Babas are a component of that. This is an extension of the market. Previously, Bollywood used to exploit this. Movies used to take Page 3. Then journalists started taking it. Then things started to move a little in society. So that was taken by a certain section. They were taken into employment. Now these Babas are having fun. Just ask any devotee of any Baba: if he talks about religion, he talks about morality, he talks about your parents, he talks about your relatives, then no devotee will listen to the Baba. Because just as tragedy, romance, and violence are needed in cinema, similarly every Baba needs these four or five elements to make them popular in the country. Yes, it's all about the market. Yes, that 's absolutely amazing, and thank you very much for mentioning those true people who are the heroes of this country. They fight to save the climate, the environment, the rivers, and the mountains. They're sacrificing their lives in that struggle to save our rivers. This is a significant feat, and we should all learn more about them and mention them so that our governments can hear it. It's crucial that we Shock Reels Enter Newsrooms talk about those who are real people. You mentioned that reels bring in money. Ajay, it's strange that these days, reels are coming out that leave us stunned. An aunt and her nephew are getting married. An uncle and his niece are getting married. A father and daughter are getting married and speaking out in person. It's not like someone exposed them. They're standing there wearing garlands of vermilion and vermilion, saying, “Yes, I married my daughter.” The daughter is saying, “So what ? I married my father.” These people, and the people of our villages, are visible in their appearance and in their conversations. What has happened to society? This, I mean, is even becoming news . I see that many Hindi newspapers are publishing these stories. It's not just reel stories. They're news stories too. Until recently, I used to see Muslims being taunted, saying, “If you marry your paternal aunt's or cousin's sister, they don't consider her a sister; they consider her a cousin.” And this taunting continued. Now, it's gone beyond that, and marriages are happening with real uncles and maternal uncles, and even with fathers. What has happened? Is this just for reel stories? But I'll tell you again, this is happening for real, because these stories have appeared in the newspapers. What has happened to the country? Actually, there's both truth and what's needed for reel stories. For example, a news report from Chhattisgarh reports that a brother and sister got married. The government provides some benefits under the mass marriage scheme . The government provides some things as dowry. Yes, they give some gifts, so the marriage took place. The truth was revealed later. I'm sharing this story amidst these stories . A similar incident occurred in Uttar Pradesh for this very benefit. The government provides household items. Then there 's a wedding in Munger, Bihar, where an uncle and an aunt married their nephew. The brothers live next door and they got married. I neither deny nor accept all these incidents. I say this is social evolution. Did n't we hear about it before, or wasn't it a trend in society before that people had other relationships? Relationships with others besides their wives? This is part of social acceptance. In rural parlance, they say, “Diwal phan na chacha,” meaning, “Our uncles fan our walls.” This has been a part of conversation, because it was discussed at crossroads, at village fairs, and on the well poles during conversations. Now that reels have arrived, it's reaching you and me. This is neither new nor old . It's a technology aspect. That's why we're seeing this today. Another important thing is that some people discovered this, and some managed to do it. You'll see a mother making a reel with her son, creating almost adult scenes . People abuse her daily. I've seen that reel. You, and even society, may have seen it. That reel is made, and he's a teenage kid who listens to abuses every day. That's child abuse. This is abuse. But we say that child abuse also exists when that poor guy gets fat, eating all the food in the world, wandering around like a saint. What's his name? Yes, it doesn't matter to us. Yes, it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter. That too is child abuse. But what about the discussion of child abuse? This is a discussion about mothers. This isn't a discussion. Again, the same thing: society finds pleasure in sexual matters. That's why those women, those girls know. So, in some places, boys and girls, husbands and wives , lovers, and in some places, directors—whatever you might call small— create these scenes and broadcast them in various places. Otherwise, society hasn't changed that much. It's still violent. It does everything. And it 's surprising that these marriages are reported from the poorest communities. Privatization Dismantles Education Yes, they're absolutely from them, because they can't do anything. They can't do anything. If you look at it from a caste perspective, most of the cases are from poorer castes. The reason is that you can put anything on it. Well, they think that so-and-so's daughter, so-and-so's son-in-law, so-and-so's son, so-and-so's uncle made a reel and became successful. And then there's the publicity too. It is. You see, many girls from ordinary families have bought cars , built houses, and created a following through YouTube and blogging. So, whatever became fashionable, that's what became fashionable. Now, I'll take this back a bit: did those poor people decide they wanted to make reels, videos, and not become bloggers? This system decided that. This system will no longer allow them to study. For example, if you take away government schools and government colleges from them, how long will they study in primary private schools is beyond their control. For example, just listen to the story of Uttar Pradesh in any part of the country. There are approximately 8,000 private colleges in Uttar Pradesh, which handle 95% of the total education system, and only 5% are government and aided colleges , which handle the rest of Uttar Pradesh's education. What are you saying? 95% private. And even among those private colleges, there are those where education is completely absent. Ultimately, you will send your child to the wealthy private colleges in Sonipat, Greater Noida, or Lucknow. But the colleges I'm talking about offer no education. Teachers' organizations have been demanding that the Uttar Pradesh government upload the information on the university website, even if there are 10 teachers in those private colleges. The Uttar Pradesh government hasn't uploaded it yet, and it still doesn't. That's because a single teacher teaches in 10 colleges because they don't get paid. Oh my god. But the truth will only be revealed when the government claims we're wrong. Why doesn't the government want to upload it? We know how many government teachers there are. But what's the problem with providing information about these unaided colleges ? So, if you take away education from children and develop riots and reels as careers, then powerful boys from dominant castes, whether they're lower caste or upper caste, are joining your riots, looking for careers there, wearing gamchhas (veils) there, saving cows. But those who are culturally weak or don't feel like rioting, they make reels. They make videos. They video weddings. They make videos of fake rapes. Because they keep happening. Fake rape videos are made. They get caught. The government sometimes bans some, sometimes restricts others, but they continue endlessly. So society is built on this fabric. So, we decided not to study, nor did we decide to make reels. When the system realized there was a need for educated people, like when poor people from all over Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, or Bengal came to Delhi after being uprooted in Bengal in the 1980s, they were made railway drivers. They were made DTC drivers. Okay? They got jobs in limited companies in other places. Those who have become big people today, whose salary is 80000 to 1 lakh. They have two-storey, four-storey houses in Delhi. Those people came. But after 2010, after 2020, those who came to Delhi are e-rickshaw drivers. Because the system had filled up with things then. Now we are surplus material for the system. This population is surplus. So they were given employment as e-rickshaw drivers. So the quality of life, when we were studying, our quality of life was going on a better path . It was continuously improving. It was happening. Children from poor families, I know us, or millions of children like us, and I know dozens of such children who were so poor that they couldn't afford to study, they used to come to our hostels, whether they were upper caste or lower caste, and in both cases they used to flatter us, meaning they would massage us with oil, which we used to call them 'bhaiya' (brother). But while doing that same 'bhaiya' (brother), they got educated, got their B.Ed. somewhere, and became government teachers. This opportunity was also taken away from us . Like your privatization, or you stopped running schools and colleges . Now you've stopped that practice because you can't provide jobs to the educated . That's why you've reduced graduation to such a level that, as you know, the fees for graduation in Delhi NCR are ₹25 lakh. There's a 3-year college in Delhi NCR . Absolutely. Children of rich people study there . And in this very Delhi NCR, there are thousands and thousands of children who drive e-rickshaws or else carry bags and sell goods for some company because they cannot study beyond 10th standard. And they even study till 10th standard because the government school structures are still large in Delhi and NCR, especially in Delhi. There's no structure at all. So I brought this point up so we can understand that their need has ended. The system that taught them has ended, so now that need has ended, there's no education anymore. What are the jobs now? Devotion as Macho Identity Drive an e-rickshaw, work at a mobile shop. Meaning, the quality of life improved earlier. The poor, those oppressed by upper castes, those stricken by poverty, or those poor upper castes who were oppressed, somehow moved to the city, their quality of life also improved. Their children went to good places. Now, the quality of life is that people coming to the city are somehow trying to earn a living. That means there's only horizontal mobility. There's no vertical mobility. There's none at all. And amidst all this, when you look at it as a social society—I'm not putting it politically. When you look at it as a society, you'll see that this same society is becoming debauched. A large part of this society is becoming blind followers. A large part of this society is becoming irrational. You'll often hear stories from prominent figures, from prominent figures, like, “My driver has become a devotee. My maid, if she's Hindu, has become a devotee. My helper has become a devotee. What do you call this here? An electrician who used to work as a plumber has become a devotee . He came here because he finds power there. He feels macho in devotion. He has to gain power somewhere. Your child was becoming a sahib. He came from your village. He somehow managed to make ends meet. He ate rice, lentils, and chokha, and grew up, then came here and became an officer. He got a job at a multinational, and you were boasting there. Now, why should he be proud of his wealth here? His pride lies in his connection with powerful people. He belongs to powerful parties. He can harass so-and-so, and he can appear superior to so-and-so. So, this is how society has changed. This means that this is the empowerment of the young. In one word, I say it again and again that money, riots, violence are like employment in this country. And in that, we get a feeling of being macho. We feel good. When we wear a gamchha of some party, even if we drive an e-rickshaw, even if we earn Rs. 300, even if our children are unable to study. Even if we are unable to give our children a glass of milk every day, even if we have dal in our roti and an egg or fish if we are non-vegetarian, but we live our lives with the pride of the gamchha. This is a new India, which was created out of unemployment and has converted it towards a place where it is proud. It is proud of the fact that it carries a gamchha. It can stand somewhere. You can tell yourself, ” Oh my god, we deserve equality!” Just by eliminating education, the government has transformed society. Cultural Division as Strategy They don't need educated people. Only those who are educated and eligible will ask for jobs. They can say, “Now that I've completed my education, I 'm ready to be productive in society, I'm ready to provide productive labor. Now you can use me. In return, my life will change, the lives around me will change, and the country will change . ” If the government fears such youth, it won't provide education. Do you know how many government schools are closing? Yes, around 90,000 schools across different districts and states. This is a huge agenda. Take away education . Give them drills, cheap data, and 5 kilograms of flour. We're just getting by with this data. This is a cultural change. What I mean by this is more than a political change: culture is a tool that nurtures the seeds of rebellion. For example, when I say “Gamchha,” there 's a culture, and politics is being built on that cultural power. But other parties, other people, are unable to build cultural power. They are unable to build cultural pride. For example, let me ask the people of this country, in a nutshell, our new government has created so few jobs for quality of life that it has to be promoted extensively and pictures have to be taken on a big screen of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister handing over joining letters. This is such a false thing. Such false employment, so inferior and trivial. Secondly, at the cultural level, a sense of guilt and an inferiority and superiority complex have been fostered among the people. For example, in this country, against those in government jobs, whose lives are of little quality, their plight has led them to the mindset that if one of their eyes is damaged, let it be, but let both of the other person's eyes be damaged. What is that mentality? A hatred has been created against government officials, governmentization, and the government system. The media has been used against them. People, parties, debaters, and discussants—everyone was groomed over the past three or four decades, and now we see how profitable privatization is. BSNL was first tarnished. It was tarnished, and then this was done. So what is this? All this could only happen if you divide people culturally. There was no need to divide politically for this. This was the biggest weapon, and society is divided by culture. When you divide culturally—by caste, religion, high, low—this trend only increases. For example, when neighborhoods began to be established in this country, when metropolises Apartments and Caste Segregation began to emerge—that was the 80s. Delhi began to settle, where poor people came and started buying homes in Delhi's many illegal colonies. Caste wasn't as visible then. It wasn't that it wasn't. But let's leave aside the poor, especially the Dalits, who are shunned by everyone . So, people from all other castes bought houses everywhere, either by hiding their caste or by revealing their caste. But when you delve into the apartment system, the one that was supposed to promote democracy, to reduce ethnic differences and racial hatred in this country, apartments have taken it to even greater heights. When we debate in parks, when we talk in parks, people often keep saying “Hindu, Hindu.” So I ask them, “Among Hindus, tell me, except for the top three or four castes, who is standing here?” You can't find a single person, but you can still find one in the neighborhoods. That means, the India that was being built in the 80s, even if it was for the needs of the market, was a democratic India. It was holistic, inclusive. That's the same India we had when we were very young. Although I grew up after the 90s. But that was the same India where, in my childhood memories, we had the luxury of lighting a fire, stoves, and when I was a child, there was no gas. Some of the houses next door, belonging to upper castes, did n't even have matches. He would come to our house to ask for matches or bring fire. These aren't very old stories, but his child studied at the same university as me . This was the strength of the new India that was emerging between 1980 and 2000. But when that India was full, layoffs began, and then people started being sent back. So, the poor Tech Drives Cultural Shifts , Dalits, backward castes, and Muslim women are back again. So, when these jobs are becoming vacant, they will be given some work, and that's exactly what they are being given. In this way, this reel-making work, reel-making is work. Secondly, there 's another cultural aspect to reel-making that's very important: reel-making is a cultural evolution. What happened in society when we called this cultural progress? Yes, I mean, I call it cultural progress , and I don't define cultural progress in the context of morality. I repeatedly look at technology and the market, because we are those tools. We are very ordinary and ordinary people. We don't decide anything. We are simply used. Like the podcast we were sitting in front of. Today, the market felt the need for this podcast approach, so they brought it to us, and then YouTube told us that podcasts work. In the 1980s, even in the 1970s, there were a lot of podcasts on the radio, and podcasts were life. So, in the middle, it became irrelevant. Radio became a useless thing. No one had time. There was no time. Now, how did it come back? So, technology comes when needed. I was saying, look at it as progress, but I see it as cultural progress. There was a time when joint families existed, rural life was scarce. Income was low. One or two people earned for expenses, or the men of the entire family, and the rest of the family would survive. Then jobs started becoming available. Then people moved to the cities, and the husband still earned, but he paid for the family expenses. Her quality of life remained unchanged. Her sons lived just like her other brothers' children. The joint family system wasn't widespread throughout India, but it certainly existed in North India. It may have existed there as well. Then, as men gradually became stronger, wives realized their husbands earned. Husbands also realized their own earnings. Yet, their children are yearning for the same candy and lollipops, wandering around like beggars. So gradually, in other cities, employers, or rather, city officials, began to realize that if they lived here with their children, they would go home less and take fewer vacations. So, that process continued. Railway quarters were built, and other things were built, and then gradually people settled down. The educational, service class , and the service class—yes, the service class—are born here . This is urbanization. Then urbanization realized that television arrived. Our journey to entertainment began with television. When television arrived, remember that daughters-in-law didn't even have rights to the dowry televisions. They were placed outside in the hallway, and brothers and uncles and maternal uncles would sit and watch. Then, when programs like Santoshi Maa or Ramayana were on, the curtains would be drawn, the doors would open, and women would line up on one side, half-covered, and sit wherever the custom was. But even this grew boring as the market strengthened, and daughters-in-law began buying televisions. I don't consider that a process of family fragmentation. I believe that technological advancements fragmented families according to their own needs. There 's nothing good or bad about daughters-in-law changing or mothers-in-law changing. It's all a necessity of technology. Change happens again. When this happens, it lasts for decades in Indian society. Then, gradually, women migrate to cities. Children migrate. Then, the breadwinner brother changes. Then, the heartbroken brother in the village says, “You've changed. You look at yourself. ” And then, gradually, for 10 years, or consider it, between 1990 and 2000, there's a constant stream of complaints: “You don't even ask us. We did everything for you .” Then, that time also ends, and the family starts to take care of their ancestral home, all these things: farming, yes, all the relationships. Then, they too start sending their children here and there for education. Then, on one hand, the countryside gradually became the center of Vishnu, and the villages that once dealt with cities now dealt with urban ideals. The rural man was almost a nerd. When the city dwellers arrived with their children, with their wives, with chocolate pockets filled with cream and powder, their rural wives considered themselves inferior. Inferiority is also a long-standing frustration in our society, one that has persisted . I wonder if this will continue forever, or for how long. It does, but it still exists. All those concerns changed. So, the TV that belonged to my uncle, my grandfather, became a woman's. Right? Then the woman changed further, becoming a TV in the big drawing room. Then came serials. Serials, in a negative sense, revolutionized women's lives: TV serials preached only one thing: that uncles Serials Reshape Family Dynamics , maternal uncles, and paternal uncles are all dishonest. Daughters-in-law, so-and-so, aunts, aunts, whatever they are—women are all worthless. In general, you see your husband, you, and a few friends from outside in any serial, and those people are fine. The rest of the family circle is the worst villain. Well, this concept easily penetrated women because these things were present in practical life to some extent, even in small incidents. The exploitation of women and the daughter-in-law issue was already there, but taking it to the extreme, that is, turning this complex into superiority, that is, the art of turning better into best, was mastered by these serials, and these serials completely shattered the attachment and emotionality in Indian society. Now, there's another aspect to this: was this just a need for technology? Ca n't society handle this? Society could only have done this if those who were forcefully implementing it, urbanization, TV, culture, and other things . Yes, those who were bringing Balaji, had worked for social change in Indian society on the ground, then this country wouldn't be like this. Exactly right. Like, what if I'm left out ? Then the TV came here. How did it reach the reel? Then the TV came into the drawing room. Then the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came. When everyone moved away, when the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law also left, now you understand, just like in foreign countries, Indian women and Indian fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law go there only to have children. Similarly, in Delhi, fathers-in-law from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh come here only to have children. Now, in Delhi too. Okay. Yes, yes, there is plenty. I don't think anyone listening will deny this. I mean, it 's a kind of operation that has taken place for six months to a year. You won't see elderly people in apartments. It's just the parents. But in reality, those same parents, who have grown old now, have told me this after watching serials, that everyone else is a villain. In 15-20 years, they became old. They're still old. So now they have to suffer. Now the question is, privacy came when TV came. After TV, when technology came, the level of privacy increased further. So when mobile phones came, watching TV serials on mobile phones is no longer fun. Then you looked at these things. Then technology came, and every person has some ability. For example, we have 10 abilities. I can dance, I can sing, I can swim. I don't know what all I can do. These aren't small things, like the ability to make a reel and sing a song. In India, everyone has the frustration of dancing. They want to dance with all their heart, but someone doesn't let them. Some in the name of caste, some in the name of religion, some in the name of family, some in the name of civilization, some in the name of barbarism. So, reel has become a place to vent all these frustrations. Some succeeded, some failed. So, this narcissism in the name of privacy means moving further into the self. I mean, you think about it, I don't think any reader would deny this. However, it's often said that this level of loneliness has been created by this reel and mobile phone, where the husband is separate, the wife is separate, and the child is separate. All three have three worlds within one room. The privacy that began in the 1980s, separating the father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and uncle and maternal uncle, has reached such a level that one room has three parts, and they are all ensconced in invisible spaces, and none of them care about each other. If they interrupt each other, they all feel disturbed. This system has created all this for us. Communication has ceased within families. What the child is doing, whether it Privacy Splits Households 's a young child, daughter or son, and where they're interacting, is not known, so that's part of their privacy. Now, what can they do? They'll say, “This is our privacy.” This is illogical privacy. It shouldn't be supported. India hasn't yet developed technology that allows a different video to play for an eight-year-old and a different video to play for a 90-year-old. Everyone watches the same thing. And this is crucial because we only learn about the incident when it happens. Just a few years ago, 800 years ago, children were taking their own lives while playing games. Right? We learned about it when it happened, and then we became aware that such games are available. But even today, children are suddenly committing suicide. Recently, the only child from a prominent political family in Bihar committed suicide. So, we realized what this was. We don't understand what influences they had. They had a good family and a good academic background. There were no problems in life, and yet his child committed suicide. It's hard to understand . So, somewhere, something has entered his world through reels and mobile phones. Loneliness is something that, like drug addiction, is something that happens to drug addicts. We've done stories, I mean, myself. A drug addict reaches such a peak that they don't understand what will happen next, and then they go into a trance. Like gambling, these street gamblers who throw cards have a special technique: once the person standing in front of them puts in money, they develop what's called a “bai” ( a disease of the “bai” or what do they call it?) hysterical behavior. They bring the gambler into such a state that they can't get out of it until they've ruined everything and can't be stopped from doing so. The same situation occurs with loneliness. Well, what's the point of it that it's inevitable? If that technology has arrived in the market, it doesn't care if your children are ruined. It's up to you to stop it. Now, consider how this separation creates separation, for example, if Work Drains Intimacy duty starts at 7:00 in the morning and a person returns at 9:00 at night, then how can one be truly one with their family? If a birthday is celebrated in the office, and joys and sorrows are discussed in the office, and tea and coffee are consumed in the office, and alcoholics party in the office, then what's left for home? Because there's no time. And this is the truth in metropolitan cities. Whether it's Delhi or Daulatabad, this is the truth in all cities. So, when a life of joy isn't with family, how can family be with you in loneliness? If you're not in joy, everything else is ritual. For example, the entire office ecosystem has given you all kinds of joys. Meaning, joy, sadness, happiness, everything. Now, what do you have at home? You have a wife and a child. It is. In a husband-wife relationship, like when you and your wife are in your office, you 're in your office. If it's not, then in a husband-wife relationship, like when you talked about women getting married or doing other things, love diminishes in a husband-wife relationship . And this isn't something supernatural. It's not something extraordinary. It's part of the system. Because a husband-wife relationship is fundamental to running a family, and it involves property relations. When property relations are present, the wife's concern is that so and so has bought a house and hasn't paid the installment. She's worried about getting her child admitted to a school to support the family, but hasn't started tuition. She's worried about the floor still being yellow, but it hasn't been painted blue. She has to go to her parents' house. That means she brings her own load. If she's a working woman, she brings her own load. So, the feeling of relief in a husband-wife relationship used to exist, because there was a little more time. What does love require? What does love demand from anyone in this world? It only demands time. Whether a man is married or unmarried, when he falls in love, he seeks only relief. Whether it's a woman or a man, it's either. It's not as if the lover is some kind of Indra. Everyone has a normal body, the same characteristics, even girlfriends tell their lovers after a few meetings, “ You're the same.” These are all common things. It happens because it 's just relief. What is relief? If you take relief away from someone's life, that relief is sought somewhere else. Ajay, you mentioned relief. In love relationships, whether it's with a wife or a life partner, the question of loyalty Loyalty as Social Myth has taken on a very strange hue these days. There are open relationships. The wife is at home but is in the office or having an affair, or the husband is at home. The relationship is outside. Is loyalty a value that is no longer required in a man-woman relationship ? It never was. It never existed. There's no guarantee of it. I mean, I have a friend whose wife married another woman. His family members, who knew him, said, “You couldn't control your wife, what do you mean? You couldn't keep an eye on her, or control her, or control anything.” He said something amazing, a truly remarkable thing. He said, “ No one can control her. If someone wants us to do this, then tell them a system for controlling her. There's no system for it. There never was. There 's never been such a thing as control or loyalty. I mean, you're together, living together. This question of loyalty arises only when the other person gets disgraced. Before that, there's loyalty. If it gets out, it's disloyalty, right? So, in this society , 100 efforts are made to keep it out. To keep relationships out. And loyalty was originally demanded of men. Okay, then it became women's. Now it's for both. And when society is at its most disloyal, it 's not there in the entire system. Now, like those Babas we mentioned earlier, these Babas are heard and accepted by millions of people. Because when they say that a 25-year-old girl is not chaste or is so-and-so, they listen because they are looking here and there in their office, and the girl is also watching. So, this is loyalty. This Baba is talking about loyalty. We say this is not a debate at all. Secondly, these things will increase. As women become more like men, that is, they Women Mirror Male Behaviors enter employment, enter society, become self-reliant, independent, and yes, they will see the world. So, they will adopt all the characteristics of men . Just as all the castes that tried to end Brahminism in this country first accepted to be Brahmins. After that, Brahminism ended. In reality, nothing has ended. Everyone will continue in the same spirit, new Brahminists, new Brahmins. Similarly, these women will become new men. And again, I say, I don't see anything as sin or virtue. I see it as equality. It 's a process. It's a process. Brother, if you smoke cigarettes under stress . If you drink alcohol under extreme stress. If you go out with friends and return drunk and smoking cigarettes. If you want to complain about your wife or your girlfriend or abuse your boss, then the same thing that you are doing is being done by a woman too. Meaning, the same job, the same stress, the same difficulties, the same pressure from her husband, the same difficulties from her children, so she too will find such a space. Now you say there that no, she has become immoral and I have become moral. This is a very superficial debate which is solely male chauvinistic. Exactly what I was coming to was that this is very male chauvinistic. Whereas some baba says that these women are giving a bad face to some man. Marriage Anxiety and Retreat They were hitting with the same people, some hadn't hit the wall, some had hit with a stick, so they were not together, so this is the basic cry that women are becoming like men, this is what they say, this is what they say, they say it, Baba, all the social thinkers say the same, so I say one thing, people say this in my parks too, I say this in parks because I visit parks a lot, yes, there are people of all kinds there, like they say, brother, children are not getting married. It has become a big problem these days. Boys are not getting married. They live together, then after two-four years they separate. Girls are not ready to get married in large numbers. So I understand this in this way that in the last few decades we have made girls into boys. We say he is our son. Many people say no, he is our son. We raised him in the same way. Like we did not make him wash utensils. We did not make him sweep and mop. We did not make him cook food like pakodas and chakdi. He didn't teach this person how to sew or knit, and they said, “We raised him like a son , got him into IIT , got him into this … Will society change because of this ? It won't. It's the same way it is. It hasn't happened. That's why there's no marriage. There's a fear around marriage. The fear has become so strong in society that bonds aren't forming. I want to add to this. You should discuss this at length. Just that until now, there were no mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law. Now there's no one. There's no villain. There's no villain. Now there's just husband and wife, and yet it doesn't work out, and they're scared of each other. Girls are scared of boys. Boys are scared of girls. The entire ecosystem is talking against each other. So, when there's only one child in the mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, and sister-in-law, well, now there's mostly only one child, so there's no brother-in-law Safe Sex Decoupled From Marriage . In my entire country, and in my own house, there's only one child, so there's no sister-in-law. Right? There's no brother-in-law. No parents. The parents have their own house, and they've built a separate house for the child. Even in such a situation, relationships aren't working. What's happened in human relationships? That marriage is a place for safe sex, for coming together? Right? What's beyond that? There's something beyond that. So, people who think they won't have children say, “Why should we get married? We'll go to live.” This is also a huge change. Look at the cities, marriage is based on old beliefs. Yes, the youth have discovered that safe sex has nothing to do with marriage. It has to do with contraception. So they've found new ways. This is what they object to. Their objection is to this limit. They've discovered it. Here, husbands and wives haven't been able to practice safe sex for centuries. Children have been born and they've had operations. There was a recent study in India that found that most of the cancers women are getting, especially uterine cancer or other such things, are due to improper abortions . Oh , yes. So, this is the situation for the husband. So if someone wants to have sex without marriage, then contraceptives are considered necessary for that. It is there, hence there is no basis for this. To understand this, let us go to the society. A small example, one thing I meant by safe sex is that in the eyes of the society, being able to be in contact with each other while being unmarried. Now everyone is so intelligent about the child issue. Everyone knows. Look what is there in the society? There are two things that if someone unmarried has sex, makes sexual relations, then they are people of convenience. Not everyone is able to do it. It is not that this has started in the villages. This has started in the cities. Houses have been given in the cities. Like you just mentioned, there is benefit in that mention. Parents have a separate home. Children have a separate home. Or if the parents are the parents, the mother goes for a walk and the child says so and so will come to study. So that space is given. We have had this feeling since Adam and Eve. That feeling has been in our hearts ever since. That's why Indira Jai Singh said that the age for youth or adolescent sexual relations, which the government has declared a crime and a sin , should be reduced from 18 to 16. And Indira Jai Singh's demand is that it should be reduced to 14 in the next 10 years. In reality, the situation is the same; you can't stop it in 10 years. The more you accept this as natural, the sooner you will be liberated. The sooner these gurus will disappear. The sooner this debate will end. Because we're not ready to accept it. Our ecosystem will have to be reduced. It will disappear on its own. We don't need to take the contract to reduce it ; we need to take the load. Those boys who are coming, I said, when you eliminated TV and made the world mobile, these movies didn't even come on TV. Even for adult scenes like kissing and other things, Dad would go here and Mom there. Now technology doesn't even bother. Now, all three of you can watch separately. So, when he watches, he'll do it too. So, it's impossible to stop him. So, technology has made us civilized and uncivilized. Watching TV has become a good activity in the family because no one watches TV, the TV just doesn't turn on. The TV won't turn on. I 'm telling you from my own experience. The TV keeps on playing in front of us, while the other person keeps looking at the mobile phone. If my father or grandfather are watching TV, everyone feels bad, wondering why they're listening to the news ? There's abusive language. There's a fight in the news. So, it's better to watch the reel. Better to watch this. Watch something you like and stop all the noise. Absolutely. So, this is all a function of technology. Like the love From Letters to WhatsApp Love we're talking about. If you look at the evolution of love in Indian society, love letters were once written. We didn't write them, we didn't have feelings in our hearts. We acquired that technology, that is, those circumstances. We started studying in schools and colleges. Now, in villages, no one writes love letters. But in villages, everyone loved each other, especially among relatives. Now, that technology came into being. Now, technology has dictated that there will be WhatsApp messages, video calls. Love happens through those. So, many people don't succumb to nostalgia and say that love letters aren't written these days. Why would they write love letters? Love letters weren't eternal, and they are eternal. Okay, brother, when you needed a love letter, now the girl has gone to her neighborhood. You went to your neighborhood. We'll meet in college. The girl will pass by the garden. So, you can just throw a note. What else can you do? You can love this way. This is the love we called great. So, I don't see it as great or inauspicious. I see this as a development of technology and society: that love at that time, and this love at this time . I see loyalty and infidelity in the same way. We've seen fights within our relatives, families, or even among distant friends: if a woman looks closely at a man, or a man looks at a woman, and if her mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, or brother-in-law sees them, it leads to uproar and discussion. That was the terminology of unfaithfulness and infidelity at that time. Now, this terminology of unfaithfulness and infidelity has reached a widespread level. Seeing each other is no longer a big deal these days. So what is this? What did we decide? At that time, that was available. That was the resource. That was the system, where women were so veiled that they couldn't even see other men's handsome men, not even handsome young men. Even men could barely look at their sisters-in-law . They lived in their sarees, surrounded by their fantasies and taboos. Therefore, you should look at the poets and writers of Hindi literature. There is complete frustration in imagining in them. Yes, it is the same imagination, that is, women are as beautiful as they are in Hindi literature. I don't know about it, and I have not read the language, but a little English, and I have read Russian literature, so I don't think that such beauty, so incomparable, so beautiful, so great would have been described in the language of any other writer. And the only reason is that it is not visible, they will definitely tell it, it should be visible properly, it is only in imaginations. Yes, then, and even today, you should think that you are talking about reel. Even in the literature, the literature with which you are connected to a great extent, in that literature also, all the discussion happens only when it is criminal. Otherwise, in Hindi literature There's nothing in it. Hey, there was the Patna riot recently. I researched it and found out what the Patna riot was all about. And then my understanding became stronger. I have a belief. My belief about Hindi writers is that they only come into the limelight when someone talks about something below the belt. Otherwise, it's almost impossible for them to gain attention for their writing, for any literary work, and for people to read them. So, this is how I believe society develops. Well, that's a different issue. This is how society develops. Whether it's love, violence, separation, or now loneliness. Society Loneliness Becomes Normal will become even more isolated. And the suicide you mentioned, of the Patna politician's son, will only increase. Dying will also be a kind of liberation. If we don't stop society, if we don't stop and object, and if we don't re-develop collectivism, it will spread even more. That would be like liberation. For example, suppose a man becomes unemployed. After becoming unemployed, he's searching for employment. He can't find it. He's filling out forms every day, applying every day, and checking in every day. Then he watches TV. Then he sits at home. But his friendships aren't friendships. Gradually, even his friends have stopped picking up his phone. They've stopped listening to his stories. This was the case in the old ecosystem. 100 people would listen to his stories. They would make the whole thing public. If you or I became unemployed, the whole area would know that Faladani was unemployed. We took it for granted. While that was a good thing, it wasn't even right because if it became so publicized, it would become a disgrace. Now, there are so few places where he can say, “I'm not getting work.” So, in that situation, he considers death to be liberation. Because death brings money, death brings compassion, death brings help. So, people will follow this path in the future. This is terrifying. I often feel that easier ways to die will emerge, Masha'Allah. And painless methods will emerge that offer the option that you can't live, so you should try them. It's possible. What is loneliness? For example, from the age of 14, we restrict ourselves to our own needs. From the age of 14, if a young person starts to feel like they have no companionship, their education has progressed too far. What you used to study in graduation is now forgotten in seventh or eighth grade. So what can a person do? There 's a limit to their lives. I told you how schools and colleges were divided, and if this division didn't end, it would only increase. The examples you're giving of deaths are either adults or students preparing for the exam. You'd be surprised to learn that in this country, the highest number of suicides are committed by young people, even more than by farmers. Yes, because the young are the loneliest. The young have no boundaries. Especially the educated young have no one. Parents don't care, either, because they view them like machines. They only see them as students. Yes, study and get a job quickly. Start earning and give. And that's not happening. That's not happening. That's not going to happen. What's wrong with this reel wheel of becoming a millionaire? One girl in millions has succeeded, Digital Success Illusions and millions of people are wasting their time chasing her. I read somewhere that the girl said, “I tried so hard, I invested 8 lakh rupees. There was news about YouTube, but I didn't achieve anything. I'm quitting it all. This is all a lie.” So I was thinking, that girl invested 8 lakh rupees, and she wanted to become something else, and she didn't succeed, so this, this, and this is just a case that has come to light. Madam, let me tell you that these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. In Indian society, no one has the courage to tell the truth. So they have the courage to hide it. We have a traditional custom of hiding failure. You'll often hear stories in our community where if a boy fails, we even tell him that our child has passed the compartment exam. We would celebrate jokingly and in this name. So, we are experts in hiding our failures. Is there any startup owner coming and podcasting for you ? Do you know that 90% of startups close down? But some startup owner is burning, yes, the startup owner does not openly tell that they are going bankrupt. However, most of the people in startups come from middle-class families. So, middle-class families have a privilege that the parents' donations are enough to last for a generation or two. That's why they are not coming forward to you. Yes. So, these phenomena, at whatever level, are occurring, are manifesting in the same way: we hide our failures from generation to generation, and there's not even enough to show you. I'm telling you that in journalism, many people try to make money from YouTube. It's the same situation as other reel-makers. If there's no backing, no funders, then you can count a few people in this country who can cover their expenses. Otherwise, no one has it. Otherwise, whoever gets the chance will build the system. You can tell a YouTuber who built the system. No one built it. They work with two, three, four people. So, it 's not like they save money. Everything is spent. It 's spent, or the earnings aren't as good as they used to be in the old days. That happens too. So, this is a digital web. One should be cautious about this too, be vigilant. Those who think this is so big may seem big only on the surface, but there are a lot of failures in this too. Really, a lot. So, all these students who studied journalism couldn't absorb it, so they are all moving towards digital media. Here too, it's the same system thing. Where will it take them ? Just imagine, if so many people have done journalism, where will they go? So, that's why this has come about. Yes, Journalism Saturation and Precarity now you become that. What does he say? There's a new word that Modi ji keeps saying again and again: create your own employment. Yes, he says something, yes, entrepreneurship, yes, entrepreneurship, yes, you do this. Now, every youth of this country who is doing journalism after graduation, keeps carrying this around. Ask him about his sorrows, pains, and sufferings. When we first entered journalism, there were fewer people who had studied journalism and fewer institutions. Because new entertainment, new television, and news media had arrived, there was a great need. Now there's saturation. Many, hundreds of people are being expelled from one place at a time, or even all at once. This isn't a hot pursuit in journalism. You should pay attention to this. We were just talking about love affairs. Yes, back to that, on one hand, the government created the Romeo Squad Policing Love and Desire and introduced laws that would dictate who women choose, whom to spend their lives with, and with whom they can achieve physical pleasure. The state will decide, the nation will decide, and the nation-state will decide. So, laws governing love jihad have emerged. On the one hand, live-in is permitted; there's a complete framework for living, a legal framework, and on the other, love jihad. We, as a society, are so confused about the Romeo Squad, love jihad, living, and the wife's right to live. Where are we headed? How do you see the difference between these? There's a connection between all of these, and that 's a political one. Politics, technology, social expansion, and social development. If you look at all three, the political leaders—those who pursued these things, be it the Romeo Squad or Love Jihad— are all purveyors of Indian culture. They ask, “What is Indian culture?” It's that they live in veils and engage in who Politics of Love Jihad knows what. But their own sons and daughters are completely modern. 90% of all apartments in this country are BJP supporters, and while that doesn't always mean anything, it's subject to change. It 's said that the middle class is the most vulgar. It is, and 80% of them are RSS supporters. So, these boys and girls who go out wearing the most modern attire belong to these very families, telling the rest of the poor that there's no space. I guarantee that if you conduct a survey in any apartment in this country, especially in Delhi NCR, you will find that 80% of the people are not upper caste and 20 % are all others and among those 20% who are non-upper caste, they must have declared themselves Rajputs by wearing a lion. They must be them, otherwise most of them are upper caste and everyone's children roam around in modern clothes. They are in love with someone, after all, whose children are all these incidents that are happening, which are being published in newspapers? Where are the drug addicts coming from? Are they coming from slums? Those who go to these big pub houses, we Class Modernity Hypocrisy are beyond their capacity. They are crushing the parties by organizing ref parties. One day I enquired and found out that for journalism it is Rs. 500 for one night, one evening, not even a night, the fee is Rs. 500, is this less, tell me more, I am just talking about poverty, I mean if it is a poor type of talk then it will be more, Rs. 5000, in a country where even 80% of the people earn only that much to feed their children. In that country, who are the people who give this Rs. 500? I jin I live in apartments, and the friends I know, whether they have apartments worth 2 crores or 4 crores, can't afford to give their children 50,000 rupees a night. So, these are the few people who can afford it. And they determine the civilization of this country . They determine what the culture will be in this country. So this love jihad, this love jihad, is the frustration of that. Their leaders, their capitalists, their system operators, they left for 500 rupees. They didn't have the means. So they're practicing love jihad here. Right? So, this is a way to control the behavior of the poor, and the ease of it is that Muslims are present. Look at the crisis that happened. This crisis needs to be understood culturally. The crisis was that the children of powerful Muslims in cities went to study in universities and colleges . Those who went to study were Muslims with resources. Poor Muslims don't go to study. So when they went, they looked good. They were white. The darker ones have very little influence. Most of them are white, and they 're good-looking. They drive cars, ride bikes, and are macho men. What happened in that situation that girls from the Hindu community were attracted to them? This is a story spanning the last 30-40 years. Radical Hindu organizations traced this. They found it to be true. Right? On the other hand, among the girls from Muslim families who went there, some wore burqas. Some didn't, and they mingled like that. And the caste system is also very small. There Campus Origins of Narrative are only two of them in a class. So they transformed it into a new discussion. The term “love jihad” itself came into the discussion. Let me explain, I first heard this term in 2001 when I was a university student. Love jihad. They talked about it in the context of Kerala . That Colonel would talk about it in the context of Karnataka because Muslims there are slightly more educated and powerful. So, what happened was that this proved to be a new discourse. When we discussed history, society, and current politics at the university, the ABVP members would discuss issues like, ” Mian Sahib, this is what he's doing to our daughters.” Why don't you discuss this ? They would tell us that this discourse is a class issue. It's related to reaction, to social development, and to politics. But this thing just doesn't stop. It's just for the sake of creating chaos. Just like cow smuggling doesn't stop in India. The beef trade doesn't stop in India. It can never stop. Similarly, this can't stop. We did a podcast with a very senior BSF officer . He stated on record that India doesn't officially supply a single cattle to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh officially receives cattle worth crores of rupees from India in its books every year. So, supply isn't shown here, but receipt is shown there. So why is India's cattle going to Bangladesh? We all know why, and it's going with the BSF's knowledge. It's going with the country's knowledge. Besides, you know, the brothels are mostly run by Jains, Sabwals, and upper-caste Hindus. Now, let me tell you, it's the same thing here. The beef issue is the same. I did a story. I did a cover story for Caravan, an English magazine, and I covered it for almost a year, covering Rajasthan and Bangladesh. Wow. So, what the BSF officer said was right. It's the same situation. So, I just want to point out why it won't stop. Whether it's business or love, it won't stop because it's being produced. What stops is what isn't produced and doesn't create a market. Love creates a market. Beef creates a market. Eating it provides nutrition. Enjoying it provides nutrition. That's why it won't stop. It's human development, cultural development, Conflict as Business Model and most importantly, those who engage in flame jihad need their fathers, and that need is the market's need. So, a few ruffians come and beat them with sticks , abuse them, and commit violence. A few poor people were killed, their homes were demolished, bulldozers were run over them, and their parents were beaten. There are no allegations of love jihad. They are making this even more formal . This is simply the power of politics. This means it has nothing to do with flame jihad. It's the use of political power. The ultimate truth is what millions of people in this country say: if the BJP doesn't support Muslims, then they will Division for Electoral Gain They will lose everything. That's why they fuel their temper. For example, let's say they built the temple , they created Article 370, and they also repealed Article 35A. Now what should we do? What should we do in this election? They've also resorted to love jihad. They've already resorted to love jihad. That's why they're using it for election purposes. There 's not much going on in this. It's just that deep down, Hindus feel that Muslims are being controlled. The truth is what you've said many times, and you 've told me many times too, that Hindus are actually being controlled. Because Hindus are the real power. Hindus are the real rebels. And the country will only change when Hindus change their minds. That's why nothing has been done to control Muslims. In their hearts, Muslims are simply cursed and oppressed. The act of control is basically shown in a show. It's being shown. These are the pawns. This Datafication and Surveillance is the pawn. This is the pawn. These are the real victims. Just imagine, the encroachment of the state has increased so much that we 're accepting it naturally and easily. We don't debate or complain about it. We meet people, talk to people, go somewhere, come somewhere. You don't even believe it. Apple, the biggest company in this country , the most expensive company, has said it won't leak your data . So, it's priced at ₹1.5 lakh. And the phones we give to the poor, for 10, 2000, or 300, are told right in front of our eyes, at gunpoint, that if you click on them, you'll open your railway app, open an ATM app, or open any other app in the world only if you're willing to give up your data. Well, yes, yes, that's what happens. These cheap phones are funded from there. The whole world knows this truth. The phones we use, cheap phones, consume all our data. Apple tells you whether you want to pay or not, or if you don't want to pay, don't pay. Your work will continue. But our apps won't even be downloaded. This means that data security is linked to money. It is 100% linked to it. Nothing else matters. What Data as Currency is more important than data? Yes. Data is the biggest money in the entire world. It controls our mind, our body, and our desires. It controls what we will debate and discuss. And the idea that you will succeed through reels and fail through reading. It has controlled this too and implanted it in our minds. And that is why schools after schools were shut down. No one raised an voice. Entire colleges were destroyed. Teachers are being eliminated, there's no question of retrenchment. No guardian in this country is willing to take action. But you 'll talk about religion, caste, and they'll preach about women. This system Demolitions and Displacement is prepared for all this. Right now, slums are being demolished continuously. It started with Muslims, now everyone's are being demolished, and their documents and other documents are being destroyed. So, a SIR is going on. By demolishing one slum, their identity is being destroyed. They don't even have basic documents. Where will those who have been living here for 25-25, 30-30 years, and even longer, go? What arrangements are there for them? The people of India are being orphaned like this. Their children were studying, going to school, some had their own jobs. This was a way of life. Absolutely. Right now, no society rises. No one stands up for them. Some party, some labor union, or these people would have spoken up if they could speak up for themselves, like what you're saying. They would have spoken up if they could speak up for themselves, but they were shut down first. This is the control we're talking about. No, they previously Turning Poor Against Themselves supported the destruction of Muslims. They all say they voted for the BJP, and if you look at their profiles, they're all those who, with their orange gamchha (scarves), considered themselves empowered. Now that they're being destroyed, it's incredibly sad, wondering what's happened to our poor? Now, look at the situation: first, they controlled the elite. They explained to them that this is due to the filth. For example, all the rural settlements that run Delhi are dependent on rural settlements. For example, if we talk about Delhi's NCR, the entire Delhi is run by rural settlements. Meaning, their guards, their assistants, all come from the villages . And the most wicked people are also from the villages. Just imagine, crores of rupees are disappearing online every day in this country. He could not be found anywhere. Who was he maligned for? So, he was the tribal Jamtara of Jharkhand, Rural Labor Exploited and the Mewat Three of West Bengal. Have you heard the name of any prominent person? Have you seen any film that portrays the poor people who are being extorted? They are actually cursed and oppressed, part of the Nexus? Similarly, these poor people need to be eliminated. For example, let's say the need for maids has disappeared. Now, maids are gradually working not just in one house, but in four. Another one, I learned from a knowledge park. Four days ago, 8-10 girls in red clothes were sitting in the middle of the park. The man with us said that there's a company that hires girls and sends them to your place to sweep, paint, clean latrines, and dust and wash, as needed . Now, what do those poor people need? Please tell me. If you need a driver, they provide it. So, if you need a driver for just two days a month, you'll get one for two days. Now, I wasn't mentioning America until now. This is basically the American development framework, and we have wanted to become America for centuries, heart and soul. Now we Platformization of Domestic Work are ready to become one. The same thing happens in America. It's terrible. Absolutely. It's terrible. Where will our people go? Where will they go? They will die, and they're not providing education . Unskilled, uneducated labor who were making a living cleaning houses, driving cars. When you were initially mentioning Mohan Bhagwat, saying Mohan Bhagwat says you should have fewer children. On the other hand, Mohan Bhagwat says you should have fewer children, Muslims or the poor? Yes, Muslims are having fewer children. No, he tells the poor too. His only concern is the top 10% because the upper castes aren't having children. Upper Caste Fertility Anxiety That concern of his was later published in detail in the newspapers, and I 've been covering the RSS extensively for the last 20 years. I know this very well. His concern is that upper caste children aren't getting married. Upper caste men and women aren't getting married, and if they do, they're doing so much later. Right? And if they do, they 're not having children. And even if they're not having children, they 're not adopting. All these stories are true. The RSS, a grassroots organization, knows very well what's happening. Why don't they provide education? They can provide education, and many other things will help people live a respectable life. They'll live with dignity. It 's not their problem. My point to you is that education has nothing to do with children . The birth of children will automatically decrease. Just as the quality of life of the poor is increasing, for example, in the slums where we used to live, we would see the uncle next door having eight children. Right? His son was born and he had two. As the quality of life increases, it will automatically work as a contraceptive. I often say that all contraceptive schemes in India have failed. Inflation as Contraception Inflation alone has controlled the number of pregnancies in this country. All the wisdom was put into it. This means we are not willing to accept morality, immorality, family, or tradition. We simply follow the dictates of the market. This is inbuilt in our DNA. Wow! And it happened. You're right. Inflation is the single factor that has controlled everyone's families. Muslims, Hindus, everyone has been controlled from one side to the other. And they will be even more so in the next 10 years. So Mohan Bhagwat's concern is about the upper castes. Mohan Bhagwat has said the opposite: have children and get married. Is this what is happening or not? But Mohan Bhagwat is not going to fix this situation. Because when you sow, you reap what you sow. When Tech Replaces Companionship families break up, when people become separated, and when you become so dependent on capital that everything is for the market, then technology will take over. What is the need for a family? Just imagine, people are getting married through chatbots. Technology has advanced so much that they are getting married through chatbots. You can have a full conversation with Chat Chat GPT. You can tell a full story. When you come home from work and put your bag away, it activates with a single button, and then it tells you everything about your sorrows, joys, poems, stories. Starting with “How was your day?” Yes. And if you say, “Are you in a good mood?” What do you want to hear? You won't find a wife or a husband who, as soon as he arrives, will instantly become Anuradha Kaudwal, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, or any other singer to brighten your mood. So, the use that the dog had for his own happiness is now being used for him, and that means even more loneliness, because the wife is also… It's disturbing, and the wife is also disturbing; both are disturbing to each other. So, the story of self-love is basically this. AI Companions and Self Love The story of celebrating one's own birthday is about a person marrying themselves. They 've married you. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm saying this won't happen to everyone. It won't become a disaster, either. But it will persist, and technology will only exacerbate this trend because the encroachment of the state is increasing. We don't decide anything . For example, let's say I live in a metropolitan city. I didn't decide to live in a flat. If I were to sit in front of you and say to millions of people, “ No, I don't want to live in a flat. Give me a 100-yard plot 40 kilometers or 50 kilometers away,” I wouldn't be able to afford it. And even if you somehow managed to get it for me, the amenities I'd need wouldn't be available in the same way. So, where to live, what to do, what music to listen to, what job to pursue, whom Manufactured Hatred Culture to love, whom to hate? All of this is controlled. Hatred is absolutely controlled. Hatred is even more controlled. Go and kill someone you've never seen, never heard of, never spoken to. Go and kill a stranger, lynching them. Politics is dictating this. I've met many of my relatives in my in-laws' home in the mountains. The hill people, I've never seen Muslims, but I've seen them hate Muslims intensely. They 're terrified, they're always worried, and they're worried about what might happen. Now, what kind of mentality is this? Please understand. This should be understood. For example, I'm from Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar is right next door. When boys came to study at our university, we would tease them by calling them Biharis. There 's a space of pride for us because we're poor people from our own area. Just like in our university, we're subjugated by the powerful man from our district. So we too had to suppress someone . So we would find Biharis to suppress. Biharis would find someone else to suppress. So this cycle of oppression is basically a kind of sick mentality that we find joy in. Radical politics has transformed this sick mentality into a national ethos: oppress and enjoy, torment and enjoy . This tendency existed for a short time in some groups. I'm telling you about my childhood . For example, let's say we lived in an upper caste village. If a boy from the lower caste community passed by, the boys from my village would sometimes beat him up. The other villagers would ask, “What madness is this? This used to happen.” It's not like that. Others from the lower caste villages would pass by and beat him up. But this wasn't the mentality of the entire village. If someone beat someone up Normalized Cruelty and Caste and a guardian filed a complaint, I've seen 99% of the guardians. Because when we were children, we lived nearby. They used to beat their children severely, asking why they did this. But now a different situation has arisen: village after village, district after district, state after state , is constantly nurturing hatred in a mentality of madness and taking pleasure in it. A Dalit groom is unable to ride this horse. The entire village is engaged. A battalion of police is being deployed to stop him from going out as a groom. And just think, this technology and the order of this social evolution have led society to a point where every man needs an exploiter, and they find joy in it. Exploiting means exploiting the people living in apartments these days. I'm thinking something should be written about this. I call them apartment aunts. I have an understanding of Power Worship Among Women what apartment aunts do. So, the mentality of apartment aunts, almost most of them, is completely male. Sometimes, even though we are men, we appear weaker than them. In their hatred, in their words, in their arguments. Think about the women who are suffering the most. Who did those women love the most in this country? So, Prime Minister Modi. Even though they know the truth : this man oppresses them, both as a ruler and as a politician. But then comes the question: his own life, from a woman's perspective, is also not very appropriate. This has been discussed. But I can say with confidence that as I travel around the country, the maximum number of women are fans of Prime Minister Modi. So, when I ask him what is it about Modi that is like a fan Authoritarian Appeal Explained ? I have asked him on the microphone. I have asked him thousands of times. It is. Every time they walk the streets and do stories, they say they're fixing the country. They're fixing Muslims. They're raising the nation's prestige. Whose logic is this? This is a woman's logic. This was a man's logic. They adopted it . And who was the one giving this logic? They're the same women who understand modernity in half pants. They see modernity in pubs. They see modernity in Montessori schools. They understand modernity as staying away from their in-laws. They understand modernity as installing a 50-inch TV. They know how to stay away from books. They're the same women who are speaking the language of men and saying we've reached equality. That's why nothing changes in society. Everything remains the same. My last line was that every man has to become a Brahmin by ending Brahminism. Every woman has to become a man by ending patriarchy. This is where we're stuck. Because of which Patriarchy Reinvented we don't see anything changing. Would you like to say something about Indian feminism? What would you say about Indian feminism? This is all feminism is. If you have any questions, ask. They'll tell you. But the point is that Indian feminism is caught in the clutches of the market, trapped in the desire to be fair, and trapped in the desire for every woman to look like Katrina Kaif or Deepika Padukone. This trend is growing rapidly. Where will the money come from for this? These are very expensive hobbies. So where will the money come from for this? If there's no money, how will it be achieved ? All this because hardworking women don't have time to look at their own faces. Whether they're working on the street, selling vegetables , or working on a construction site, they don't have that. But those who had some financial stability in their families, with the extra money they had, hired two maids, and now they have free time. In that free time, they're looking at themselves, grooming themselves. This dance that came out of us is how much dance we Indians are filled with. How much dance is there. These are the same women who are dancing. And then if you look at the comments below, most of them are from men. Right? The woman is saying, “More power to you.” As if it's a mechanism for gaining power, somehow, that's not what's being said, but it's “More power to you.” And the men are their true consumers of that beauty. Right? They are consumers. So, we don't know what form this will take later . So, tell us a little about this feminism. Look, the rise Marketed Indian Feminism of feminism in India, whether it's called feminism, feminism, or anything else, is a mixture of both struggle and passion. It was a passion, and a little bit of struggle. But this struggle has nothing to do with the struggling women, who constitute 90% of the women in the country , who come from ordinary families. Basically, feminism, whether Indian or global, was born from NGOism. All discussions about NGOs revolve around NGOs. Now, NGOs have a set-up. NGOs steer you in a specific direction . NGOs say, “If you've come to alleviate poverty, you'll only talk about poverty, think about it, collect funds for it, and tell its success stories. ” Feminism, they say, has come entirely from NGOs, from funding. So, the women who have been working for feminism have mostly used their funding resources to advocate for this. Now, what is feminism? If dressing up is feminism? If looking like American or European women Safety Unchanged Despite Feminism is feminism, then that's just your personal hobby. You want to be fashionable. What's wrong with that? You want to look like Bollywood heroines. Look at Hollywood, what is it? This isn't feminism. “Is this ism?” means Dalitism. So, in Dalitism, Dalits became empowered. In this feminism, something like women empowerment happens only when women change. This was very self-centered. This is what I am saying by dressing up. Secondly, there is a fundamental difference in this. Feminism talks about dressing up 24*7. Struggling women or men dress up on the occasion. Why would a common woman, like someone's wife or girlfriend, dress up all the time? Like, she went to her office wearing a normal dress and rags . But this feminism of putting on a nose here and there, in the mouth there and wearing strange clothes all the time , you attract someone, right? What kind of ideology is this? Now, as for your freedom. I am saying that in these long struggles, as much feminism as possible has been shown. Let's have a discussion, give an example of the qualitative changes these struggles have brought about in life. Metropolitan Delhi wasn't safe for women to go out after 9:00 pm even 30 years ago, and it's not safe even today. Even when feminism didn't exist in Delhi, women weren't allowed to go out, and today, feminism is at its peak. It means there's a lot of feminism here. Even when they don't go out, it's still unsafe. Dehradun is a safer place than this. Haridwar is a safer place than this. Bhopal is a safer place than Jaipur. You can only compare it to Patna and Watana. While crime is rampant, this is also there. So, I'm saying that the empowerment of feminism meant reaching the grassroots level, where women were supposed to be transformed. For example, women are farmers. This Feminism’s Class Blindness is one feminism. Women getting the status of farmers is another feminism. They will decide their clothing. We don't have a say in that. They've focused all discussions on grooming , on showing off their bodies. So it suits the market. What do you call TI, meaning English newspapers? It suits Page Three. It suits Good Times. It suits the cosmetic industry. Now, you called this women's liberation. No. It was a product of the market. Since you received NGO funding, you also did some grassroots stories. And this name for women farmers was also given by NGOs. But we say that work should be done on this. Women should be empowered. Everyone was working hard in poverty. If male feminism had been implemented, women would have had the right to stand properly on the streets. Women would have had tea and water stalls. To this day, even in a place like Delhi, there is no proper place. Delhi is the capital. Where women feel that this is a place for fun. Stand here, and everyone feels like men and women . You won't find a single place. Everything is fixed. A place for the rich, a place for the rich. Now there are pubs. A pub is freedom. So this is the limitation of feminism, and it 's not just about feminism, we'll discuss it some other time. No significant initiatives for social reform have been launched in India because NGOs have taken over everything, NGO Capture of Reform and everything seems to be going in one direction. For example, if you open an NGO for Hindi literature, you'll only talk about literature, and that too, a specific kind of literature. NGOs in literature also came up with a specific focus on the upliftment of women and Dalits. Even if we look at feminist literature, most things are looking for solutions by damaging relationships. There's no damage control, no repairing that damage. Isn't it always about sabotaging relationships? Madam, I'm saying, Shivaji, that you're looking for readers. This isn't feminism. It's a market. For example, Market Friendly Feminist Narratives if we have a serious debate and we say, “Women are farmers and women are laborers. Equalize their power with men. Give them rights and give them space.” Bring it into discussions, into meetings, into protests, into speeches. Okay? Bring it out of the kitchen and into the pedestal, into debates. They'll say this is a boring kind of women's discourse. The market won't accept it. But what is this women's discourse, sir? She went with someone, developed a relationship, and then he cheated. What kind of lament is this? Oh, I mean, this is just a lament for Hindi readers. This didn't even exist in a natural society. In the natural society that existed in villages 30 years ago, there was no debate about who went with whom. Whose coming and going was a part of life. If they got caught, there was no violence. If they got caught, life continued, and they got caught. Even today, violence ensues. That's what happened. Even today, if someone gets caught, Closing Remarks there's violence. Ajay, you've touched on so many issues, and many questions have arisen in me. We'll talk again. I
