Blogger Vidyut Kale on being politically incorrect – Femina

Mumbai-based homemaker and blogger Vidyut Kale's Twitter bio reads, "I am that part of you you fear to voice. Follow at own risk. Changes in world view/loss of pink glasses non refundable." Over the years, hers has been recognised as one of the most fearless voices in India's online space, chiefly for her politically satirical spoof websites on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other bigshots such as Rahul Gandhi and Kapil Sibal. The spoofs, Kale says, were born of anger at how politicians fail at delivering on promises. Though she received a take-down notice for one of the sites, Kale maintains none of it had dire repercussions, "Unless you count the occasional trolls."

The blogger-commentator, who started Aamjanta.com to bring us 'the perspective of the common man' writes tongue-in-cheek pieces on various socio-political issues. "One of the reasons I started the site was to voice things beyond the dominant narrative of people with voice. And there is so much about India that is vanishing quietly out of sight, as we change and grow as a country," says Kale, who also works with People's Archive of Rural India, a project, started by veteran journalist P Sainath, that 'documents the people of India'.

So, when did she start blogging full-time? "When I had my son in 2009 and was staying at home a lot, I started taking more of an interest in news and realised that the country, at large, was a group too," she says. "So I started blogging from that perspective - the nation as a shared space and the dynamics that impact its actualisation, with issues of hostility, xenophobia, opportunistic polarisation, denial of rights and so on."

The 41-year-old says the space for public debate is shrinking in India. "Celebrity voices tend to dominate what public ethics should be and there is an overall stupidification of the country - it basically tells you that lots of people aren't thinking for themselves, because it is simply impossible for unconnected people to come up with identical nuanced stands," she says.

Kale believes that though there's a lot of social censorship going on, a good trolling attack actually helps. "The first thing to realise is that if you are getting trolled, you probably said something that upset a lot of people who'd rather shut you up than look at what you said. A good trolling attack enhances your reach to people who'd never be exposed to your views normally." And there's a comical irony to the hate too. "I often joke that I grow my follower count on the trolling budgets of others. I mean, it is one thing to oppose, it is quite another to use the money spent to shut me up to improve my reach, yes?"

PHOTO: Vinay Javkar

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Blogger Vidyut Kale on being politically incorrect - Femina