I want to talk about two important things, but first, let's understand what happened. So, let's begin. Samay Raina hosts a popular show called India's Got Latent, which is a sarcastic version of India's Got Talent.
In every episode, there are different celebrity judges who watch the talent of the contestant for 90 seconds. But this show isn't like other talent shows. Its inspiration is an American show called Kill Tony.
The entertainment doesn't only come from the talent of the contestants, but from the reaction of the judges and their jokes. You won't find many of these jokes in other comedy shows because this show isn't for family entertainment. The humor of this show is called dark humor, and many jokes are very edgy.
All episodes of this show are released on YouTube, and where most episodes are free, there are some bonus episodes that only Samay Raina's YouTube members can watch. And to become a member, you have to pay Rs. 60 every month.
Samay released an episode on 8th February, just for members. There were many popular influencers and creators, like Ashish Chanchalani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Mukhija, and Ranveer Allahbadia. During this episode, Ranveer Allahbadia asked a question.
Would you rather watch your parents have s*x every day for the rest of your life? Or would you join in once and stop it forever? Now, this joke might not even be original because two weeks ago, the same line appeared on an American YouTube channel, OG Crew.
When Ranveer cracked this joke, he probably didn't realize what he said. The panel and the audience were laughing with him. But a few hours after the episode was released, things changed.
This clip went viral. "Samay Raina has finally broken silence. " "They're spreading filth in the name of dark humor.
" "Some things have been said in a very bad way. " It went viral on Twitter or X when @faded_clone17 posted this clip. But now, this account has been deleted.
Everyone is reacting to this clip. This is the same person who received an award from the Prime Minister of India. This person doesn't even know what to joke about.
Many celebrities are also sharing their opinions. For example, journalist and lyricist, Nilesh Mishra, criticized the creators and platform. But this issue is not restricted to social media.
It has crossed the digital boundary. Maharashtra's Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, also reacted. "Everyone has freedom of speech.
" "But when it encroaches on other's freedom, it ceases to exist. " Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that she will raise her voice in Parliament. "I'll have to do it.
I'll raise this matter with the IT committee. " "The platform must understand that you can't make a profit out of us. " Two Mumbai lawyers filed a police complaint against Ranveer and other creators.
They wrote to Mumbai's Police Commissioner and Maharashtra's Women Commissioner about how India's Got Latent is disrespecting women. Congress spokesperson also posted something against Ranveer. Two days after the release of the episode, Ranveer apologized.
But at 8 p. m. that night, Assam's Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, posted on X that he is filing an FIR against Ranveer and others to promote obscene things.
The mainstream media is in chaos again. "Parents who have been given the title of God, are being demeaned by such obscene, uncivilized comments. " "Trying to endorse on this platform.
. . " "Madam and you talking about.
. . " "You need to understand.
It's all about. . .
" "And in this comedy show, Ranveer said such things that if his podcasters hear them, they might get a heart attack. " On 11th February, B. Prakh announced that he was going to have a podcast with Ranveer, which he is cancelling.
"I was going to go on a podcast called BeerBiceps. " "And we cancelled that. " "Why?
Because you know how pathetic his thinking is. " On the same day, the central government sends a notice to YouTube that they would have to remove this video under the IT Act 2008, Section 69A. Mumbai's cyber department then registers a case and demanded that all episodes of India's Got Latent be deleted.
On 11th February, a Mumbai police team reaches Ranveer's house. An officer from the Mumbai police said that 30 guests who appeared in all the episodes of the show were being summoned. And this show is discussed in the national parliament.
During Zero Hour, Shiv Sena's MP demands that social media content be regulated. He says that influencers use free speech to post nonsense. "OTT platforms are not censored.
" "They have no direction. " Then the National Commission for Women sends summons to Ranveer, Samay, Apoorva, Jaspreet and Ashish. The producers of the show, Tushar and Saurabh are told that they have to go to New Delhi on 17th February for the investigation by the National Commission for Women.
Meanwhile, TV channels have been covering this issue 24x7. "Stop calling them artists and comedians. " "They don't deserve to be associated with any art.
" "They are a disgrace. " The backlash is so big that many people on Instagram and YouTube have unfollowed Ranveer. And Samay Raina posts that he has deleted all the episodes of India's Got Latent.
Now let's talk about two important things. Freedom of expression and political incentives. Let's start with freedom of expression.
On 11th February, Arnab Goswami organized his primetime debate titled, BeerBiceps Filth. "I'm not for cancel culture but I believe quite clearly that this is beyond everything. " Arnab Goswami says that how can Ranveer use such a vulgar language?
We should take strict action against him. But let's go back four years. On November 2020, Arnab Goswami was arrested.
You can see his photo. He was arrested in the Anvay Naik su***de case. Anvay designed Arnab's studio.
He was an architect. Anvay's wife claimed that Arnab didn't pay fees to Anvay. Arnab's name is also in Anvay's su***de note.
But many people called this arrest politically motivated because Arnab Goswami attacked the Mumbai police for the Sushant Singh Rajput case. At that time, the BJP didn't rule Maharashtra. But Uday Thackeray, Congress and NCP ruled it.
Many BJP members called Arnab's arrest an attack on freedom of expression. Eventually, Arnab Goswami was released from jail. In this case, Justice Chandrachud said something.
He said, I don't watch his channel. Even if you don't share the same ideology as Arnab, if the courts don't interfere today, then we are traveling the path of destruction. The Chief Justice of the country said, I don't watch Arnab's channel, but I will protect his rights.
He said, if state governments start targeting people, then the court's responsibility is to protect people. So the same man who was protected by the Chief Justice of India, today he's shouting and saying, why should Ranveer be arrested? Now you'll say, Mohak what are you talking about?
Arnab's case is different, Ranveer's case is different. That's why I want to tell you, what is freedom of expression? Recently, I tweeted in defense of Ranveer.
Many people, like this gentleman, replied, it means you agree with Ranveer? What kind of values do you have? But freedom of expression doesn't mean people can say what I agree with.
It means people can say what I don't like. So does this mean there should be no limits in freedom of expression? No, there should be.
What limits? If someone spreads hate or demands violence, then that's not freedom of speech. And we should stop them.
But a bad joke that's said in a YouTube video, was that joke funny for me? No. Do I agree with it?
No. But should Ranveer go to jail for this? No.
There are many things in this world that I don't agree with. Like the film Animal. "Come, lick my shoe.
" But does this mean animal films should be banned? No. There are many things you won't like in life.
But that doesn't make them illegal. If you don't like them, then criticize them. If you want, go to Ranveer's house and protest.
Make him apologize. But he apologized. What else do you want?
The problem is that people don't understand the difference between legality and morality. Morality is not equal to legality. Morality comes from personal, cultural, and religious beliefs.
Your morals can be different from my morals. For example, it's immoral for some people to use abusive words. whereas it's not immoral for some people to do the same.
So morals can be different for people, but not laws. Laws are the same for everyone in a country. Practically, that's not the case in our country, but at least theoretically, it's true.
The problem is that people think that what's immoral for them, is immoral for everyone. If abusing was illegal, half the people in Delhi would be in jail. Ranveer's joke is immoral for me, but does that mean it's illegal?
No. We put people in jail for illegal things, and we criticize people for immoral things. There's a difference between the two.
Some of you might say that according to the constitution, we can put Ranveer in jail. In the Indian constitution, freedom of speech and expression is defined in Article 19 (1)(a) The law states that all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression. But that doesn't mean you can say anything.
Under certain conditions, your speech can be curtailed. For example, if your speech targets the sovereignty and integrity of the country. If your speech can deteriorate violence, terrorism, or security.
Or if your statement damages the diplomatic relations of the country with other countries. If your speech can incite violence, riots, or unrest, or if your content is obscene, offensive, and against societal values. What are obscene, offensive, and societal values?
It's not defined. And it's not an accident. But by design, it's written so that the government can put anyone in jail whenever it wants.
Today, they can be Ranveer and Samay. Tomorrow, it can be me. But this restriction wasn't there in the constitution from the start.
In fact, for some time, there was absolute freedom of expression in our country. But this changed in 1951 because of Jawaharlal Nehru. A great book has been written on this issue, which I strongly recommend.
Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the first amendment to our constitution, which permanently changed the relationship between individual rights and our government. After independence, Nehru faced many legal challenges to pass his laws. For example, he wanted to remove the Zamindari system and put restrictions on the media.
But he couldn't pass such laws. So he decided to limit freedom of expression. So he introduced the term, public order.
He said that if a speech disturbs public order, it can be stopped. Many politicians opposed this, but it didn't work. But do you know what's interesting?
How did Jawaharlal Nehru justify this? He said that the media is spoiling the youth of our country. He said that many newspapers are filled with vulgarity and indecency, which are poisoning the minds of our youth and degrading their moral standards.
This isn't a political problem. It's a moral problem. He said, how can we save our youth from this poison?
This was in 1951. And the arguments you'll hear in 2025 are the same. People want to stop freedom of expression by saying that the young generation is getting spoiled.
On whose basis? On the basis of a joke. Like I said earlier, I didn't like Ranveer's joke.
But if I didn't like it and you didn't like it, it doesn't make it illegal. I have a problem with hypocrisy. A few years ago, Ekta Kapoor was awarded a Padma Shri for her contribution.
Do you know which streaming platform Ekta Kapoor owns? Alt Balaji. It's basically streams softpo*n.
Ravi Kishan criticized Ranveer's content. It's very sad to see the use of language where our wives, our children, our daughters, the daughters of every family, the mothers of every family, the sisters, everyone is watching. The use of such words is very insulting.
This yogi says that people like Ranveer should be hanged. Do you know what this yogi commented under Sunny Leone's profile? Follow me.
Now you'll say, put these people in jail too. But that's not my point. My point is that there are many things that we don't agree with, that we consider immoral.
But that doesn't make it illegal. Now let's talk about the second thing, political incentives. Why did Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, who's sitting in Guwahati, file an FIR against India's Got Latent?
It's easy to say that Indian politicians don't know anything. They do anything without thinking. But that's wrong.
On the contrary, I believe that Indian politicians are one of the smartest people in our country. They know what their job is. It's to win elections.
And they know how to win those elections. And what's the trick to win elections? Visibility.
Until a politician is in front of the eyes of the public, he won't be in their minds during elections. Kartik Mulidhar has written a lot about this in his book. He says that politicians implement policies that give immediate results.
Subsidies, freebies, handouts, these are the things that give you results in the short term. There's no need to work hard. That's why politicians implement policies that makes voters see the politician's effort.
Just building a highway isn't enough. The highway needs to be inaugurated. Just giving a subsidy isn't enough.
Organizing an event, where like a cricket match, a presentation like a Man of the Match is also important. But tweeting against Ranveer Allahabadia isn't in this category. So why did Himanta Biswas Sarma and other politicians do this?
For visibility. In today's media environment, when there are hundreds of videos in front of your eyes, it's very difficult to get visibility. And politicians know that if they put their leg in a controversy, they'll benefit the most.
Because any publicity is good publicity. That's why Himanta Biswas Sarma tweeted this. Because solving the unemployment problem in Assam is more difficult.
A study by Lancet showed that due to pollution in our country, 7% of deaths in cities are caused by air pollution. 46% of sitting MPs in the Parliament face a criminal case. And 31% face serious cases, including r**e, kidnapping, and murder.
No city in the country is livable. Public transport is bad. There's dust and mud everywhere.
There's garbage everywhere. And there's air pollution in the air. But if a national controversy about a YouTuber's joke starts, and I tweet about it, neither will my opposition get attention, nor the country's problems.
To understand the impact of this strategy, we shouldn't stay in India. We should go to Washington DC, to Donald Trump. Donald Trump has shown how much benefit any leader gets by dominating the attention.
30 years ago, politicians debated on issues to convince people. At that time, the strategy was to get people's attention first. When I get people's attention, I'll try to change their minds on any public policy.
But today, attention is the goal. That's why every politician is fighting against each other for visibility. And what are all the politicians doing to get visibility?
They're shouting. Imagine that many people are talking to each other in a room. And suddenly, one person comes and starts shouting on a loudspeaker.
It doesn't matter what he's saying or if there's any logic in what he's saying. What matters is that everyone is listening to him. And this is what's happening in our politics.
And once politicians got involved, our media channels also jumped in. Why? Because what's visible sells the most.
And this cycle repeats every week in our country. A few weeks ago, Saif Ali Khan was on National News. Three years ago, Aryan Khan's Arrest was on National News.
Before that, it was Sushant Singh Rajput's death. And on every occasion, Arnab Goswami would shout as if it was his life's mission. But a few days later, everyone disappears.
The show is over, and everyone goes home. Did a common man's problem get solved? No.
But people got entertained, and politicians found a distraction. I'm not saying that Aryan Khan's drug case or Saif Ali Khan's attack case should not get any attention. My problem is how much attention is given to these issues in a country where poverty and starvation are still a normal thing.
Imagine that there's a team from Assam Police that's coming to Mumbai from Guwahati for an investigation. In a state which is sort of 13,000 police officers. A popular writer, Noam Chomsky, talked about a propaganda model.
He said that some issues are deliberately amplified and others are ignored. The selective outrage about Ranveer's joke is not because people care about the society. It's a convenient thing.
The entire ecosystem of politics and media is working together. A few weeks ago, I made a video about Ranveer's podcast. People commented that Mohak had predicted his downfall.
I didn't criticize Ranveer. I criticized his content. There's a difference between the two.
Criticizing Ranveer's content doesn't mean I want him to go to jail. In fact, Ranveer and Samay are facing police action, and I'm not. It's just a matter of luck.
I've made many videos that can conveniently put me in jail. Because the issue isn't about Ranveer's joke. The issue is when and who is going viral.
And if you're in a bad situation and a politician wants attention, you'll be summoned by the police. And if you want to change this situation, change the attention of the people around you. In the pinned comment, you'll find a link where you can find images that, in my opinion, bring focus back to the core issues of our country.
If you want to change this situation, share those images on WhatsApp groups and social media so that people pay attention to them. Don't let distractions win. www.
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