Entrepreneur, Zerodha co-founder, and YouTuber Nikhil Kamath, known for his “WTF is” podcast interviews, has launched “WTF Discourse,” a new format to allegedly facilitate discussions between individuals with contrasting viewpoints on varied subjects spanning from entertainment to capitalism in the presence of a designated moderator.
“We’re taking on everything from MBAs and startups to sport, art, influencers, capitalism and civic behaviour. The idea is simple: hear two genuinely opposing arguments without feeling the need to pick a side. Many more experts & moderators will join in the episodes to follow,” he wrote on social media while inviting recommendations for potential featured guests.
Kamath also unveiled a list of topics that will be part of the upcoming episodes. However, the names shared by him quickly drew the attention of people who asked whether the format would actually bring genuinely diverse voices to the table. Kamath was also accused of platforming different shades of the same ideological framework in the name of competing perspectives. They charged that it is essentially an ideological echo chamber rather than a program for meaningful disagreement.
WTF Discourse – Season 1
— Nikhil Kamath (@nikhilkamathcio) September 21, 2026
We’re taking on everything from MBAs and startups to sport, art, influencers, capitalism and civic behaviour..
The idea is simple: hear two genuinely opposing arguments without feeling the need to pick a side.
Many more experts & moderators will join… pic.twitter.com/6kcsHiTELw
The netizens question Kamath over his claims
The users highlighted that the discourse centres on people with similar ideology emanating from a single ecosystem, despite masquerading as a venue for conflicting arguments. They pointed out that Kamath was trying to deceive with his assertion of “opposing viewpoints,” which is far from the truth.
A netizen remarked, “Host, for and against – all three in each panel are leftists,” telling him not to “fool” them. The person also outlined that Kamath’s WTF is managed by Bilal Jameel, who hurled abuses at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jameel is the son of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Maharashtra State President Syed Imtiaz Jaleel, who held protests against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma and demanded that she be hanged in public in light of Islamic scriptures.
Host, for and against – all three in each panel are leftists. Don’t try to fool us Nikhil.
— Squint Neon (@TheSquind) September 21, 2026
Also, care to explain why you’ve hired Modi abuser Bilal Jaleel to manage your WTF.
Imtiaz Jaleel, father of Bilal Jaleel, has participated in protests against Nupur Sharma. In 2022,… pic.twitter.com/eMb4xQw8Uy
A person posted a popular Spider-Man meme to convey the absurdity of Kamath’s claims and stated that leftists are debating each other under the guise of a contest between “two opposing ideas,” adding, “What a joke.”
LEFTIST debating LEFTIST which is Moderated by LEFTIST. And it is masquerading as debate between "TWO OPPOSITE IDEAS".. What a joke 😂😅 pic.twitter.com/H0r2hheEEi
— abhishek🇮🇳 (@shadesofrads) September 21, 2026
Another individual mocked that they were the first member of their family lineage to experience a debate in which the moderator and all participants had the “same ideology” and would merely reiterate one another’s points.
First is my bloodline to see a debate where moderater and participants are of same ideology and will only echo each other's points 😂😂
— A Regular Indian (@Regular__Indian) September 21, 2026
A user wrote, “Who wants to hear these communist retards? You guys are seriously losing it. Have some shame,” pressing for a comprehensive research of their background before initiating this “drama.”
Who wants to hear these communist retards? You guys are seriously losing it. Have some shame. At least look into their background before putting on this drama. pic.twitter.com/hfkvg5TMNe
— RedExile (@RedWatchIndia) September 21, 2026
“This is an embarrassing leftist dog whistle. Your show was already bordering on pointless. This has just made things worse,” mentioned Abhay Bhargav. He noted that substantive “discourse” cannot happen when participants are exclusively taken from the same ideological camp (the communist camp), adding, “But of course, you already know that.”
This is an embarrassing leftist dog whistle. Your show was already bordering on pointless. This has just made things worse. Don’t bring people from the same camp (all commie) and expect good “discourse” but of course, you already know that.
— Abhay Bhargav (@abhaybhargav) September 22, 2026
The figures fuelling the backlash
Notably, the lineup for “WTF Discourse” has already raised eyebrows, with several personalities from the leftist faction scheduled to join this program, including Meghnad S, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Faye D’Souza, among others.
Meghnad S
“Journalist” Meghnad S, who is going to be a guest on Kamath’s show, was among the first members of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) before he decided to leave it. He is also a persistent supporter of anti-Hindu Delhi riots accused Umar Khalid and recently published a video titled, “If Umar isn’t free, nobody is.” He routinely hits out at the BJP, its supporters, and the media, which is not affiliated with the opposition’s ecosystem.
Meghnad was caught discussing the Nepal revolution with a social media influencer last year who justified violence as an inevitable consequence within “systems where justice is inaccessible” during their conversation.
A year before, in 2024, he had accused the Election Commission of India of favouring PM Modi when he was filing his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency for the general election. “I don’t see ten people proposing the nomination for him, like they are asking Shyam Rangeela even to procure a form,” insisting that “special treatment” was offered to PM Modi.
Meghnad insisted that the Election Commission had intentionally created obstacles to prevent rival candidates from fighting against him. He also had an issue with the cameras covering the event. However, the Election Commission had made it clear that both independent and registered candidates from unrecognised parties must have ten proposers.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a consultant and frequent contributor at NewsClick, which faces grave allegations linked to Chinese funding, is also invited to present his viewpoint on the discourse. On 22nd September, he had to release a formal public apology concerning a post about N Chandrasekharan, the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Group. Thakurta claimed that it was based on a WhatsApp message and was subsequently discovered to contain numerous inaccuracies and factual errors.
“As soon as these were brought to my notice, I deleted the posts from my social media handles on Facebook and Twitter (X). I am sorry, but I should not have blindly believed what was sent to me, and I should have done my due diligence more carefully. Once again, I unconditionally apologise to Natarajan, his relatives and his associates for the error I made, and I hope he will forgive me for the mistake I made,” he requested.
To whom it may concern:
— Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (@paranjoygt) September 22, 2026
I sincerely apologise for putting out a post on Shri N Chandrasekharan of the Tata group based on a WhatsApp message that I believed was factually correct. The post had several inaccuracies and errors. As soon as these were brought to my notice, I…
Thakurta has consistently alleged that Indian democracy has been “hacked” after PM Modi stormed to power in 2014, declared that the media is “compromised,” and continuously targeted Indian industrialists, specifically Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani. In 2021, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in a criminal defamation case submitted by the Adani Group against him, which was later stayed by the Gujarat High Court.
Thakurta co-authored an article while serving as Editor of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW), contending that the Modi government had altered special economic zone regulations to benefit Adani Group to the tune of Rs 500 crore. The media house removed the article after receiving a legal notice from the Adani Group, and Thakurta resigned from his position. The piece was later published by The Wire.
Thakurta, in 2019, was condemned for misrepresenting a two-year-old tragic incident involving a Dalit man who was reportedly beaten to death for participating in a Garba event as a recent occurrence. A year prior, he disseminated false information regarding the death of a 90-year-old Dalit man, declaring that “he was burnt alive for trying to enter a temple” in Uttar Pradesh. However, the victim was murdered by a drunkard who then burned the body and bore no connection whatsoever to the temple.
Thakurta wrote an article for “The Wire” in 2017, charging that K.V.S. Singh, the adjudicating authority of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at the time, had terminated all legal proceedings concerning the Adani group. However, the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) retaliated with a strong rebuke, characterising the piece as “factually and legally incorrect” in its formal response.
Faye D’Souza
“Journalist” Faye D’Souza is slated to serve as a host for two discussions on “WTF Discourse.” She had retweeted a debunked story about the standard of N95 masks and protective equipment being distributed by the government during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The reporter had to delete her tweet after she was fact-checked by the PIB, but D’Souza had already shared it, commenting “unbelievable.”
She also furiously protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and accused the government of imposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) without any clarification on the matter.
D’Souza was also fact-checked over her statements on Justice S Muralidhar’s relocation from the Delhi High Court during 2020. She maintained that the central government executed a precipitous transfer of the justice due to his criticism directed at the Delhi Police and his orders mandating the lodging of First Information Reports (FIRs) against politicians accused of delivering inflammatory speeches.
However, it was revealed that the move was proposed by the Supreme Court Collegium days before his judgement. The Union Law Ministry simply sent out the notification in accordance with the decision. Furthermore, the Collegium controls appointments and transfers in the higher judiciary, and the government has no role in these affairs.
Interestingly, both Thakurta and D’Souza misused an article from “The Times of India” that stated banks could introduce an additional section in Know Your Customer (KYC) forms enabling their depositors and clients to declare their religious background. The regulatory adjustments were promulgated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Foreign Exchange Management Regulations in 2018.
They are confined to migrants belonging to minority faith communities, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who reside in India and possess long-term visa (LTV) documentation. However, these leftists tried to give a religious colour to the matter.
D Souza also propagated an unfounded tweet by “The Wire,” alleging that juvenile detainees released from Daryaganj Police Station were beaten both during the lathi charge and after their confinement within the station.
Sharda Ugra
Sports “journalist” Sharda Ugra, who has also made it to the guest list of Kamath’s program, regularly accused PM Modi of weaponising cricket and transforming cricketing events into political gatherings. She referenced the 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when PM Modi came to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium as spectators chanted his name, in her “The Caravan” article. He was joined by his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese.
She stated, “From the naming of stadiums to the choice of venues, and the demonisation of Pakistan and Muslims more broadly, some observers say that Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using the tournament as a launch pad for a third term in office. Some even speculate that, if India wins, Modi may even call for elections six or so months before the BJP’s term ends in June 2024,” in another piece of Al Jazeera.
Ugra asserted that Jay Shah, who held the position of Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary at the time, “hijacked” the World Cup in a separate column for Wisden in 2024. According to her, the BCCI were “piggybacking on the Indian team” and “treated the tournament as a vehicle for jingoism and exceptionalism, repeatedly trumpeting the BJP’s pet tropes: hyper-nationalism, and anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim sentiment. And behind the semaphore was Jay Shah.”
Ugra further objected to the playing of the bhajan “Ram Siya Ram” during the Asia Cup, insisting, “To Indians, its significance was obvious. Over the last three decades, the Hindu god Ram has been appropriated as the BJP’s deity of choice, with fundamentalists turning the chant, Jai Shri Ram, into a call to arms.”
She added, “The Sri Lankan DJ was playing the chorus on the orders of the Asian Cricket Council, whose president is Jay Shah. Eventually, Pakistan – the tournament hosts, remember – took control of the music. It was no coincidence that, during the World Cup, the song reappeared during the India–Pakistan match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on 14th October. Young Indians among the ICC volunteers eventually had it removed from the playlist for the rest of the tournament.”
Ugra claimed that the Pakistan team had to cancel a training camp in Dubai and arrive in India just two days before their first warm-up due to a delay in the issuance of their visas. Pakistani media, as well as British reporters with ties to the Islamic Republic, had to wait longer and missed their team’s first match on Indian soil in more than seven years.
She was also displeased over a flypast performed by the Indian Air Force aerobatics team before the final match, arguing that it was “unusual at a cricket match, and possible only on government demand.”
Ugra described the decision made by the Indian team to wear orange jerseys as “most bizarre,” adding that “the colour has been appropriated as a symbol of hard-line Hinduism (Hindutva) by the BJP, now completing ten years in power. BJP cadres flaunt orange scarves, their rallies are awash with saffron. Green is regarded as the counter-colour, used in Islam in mosques and shrines, and on flags. To kit out the Indians in all-orange against the Pakistanis, in their familiar dark green, would have turned a high-voltage match into Hindu India against Muslim Pakistan. There were two Muslims in the Indian team, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.”
Prem Panicker
“Journalist” Prem Panicker, another guest on the discourse, on 17th September wrote, “Since no Hindu festival is complete without dancing in front of a mosque, we need to build more mosques asap,” after devotees tried to burst crackers during a Ganeshotsava procession which happened to pass by a mosque in an area of Congress-ruled Karnataka.
Since no Hindu festival is complete without dancing in front of a mosque, we need to build more mosques asap. https://t.co/RjhrGEKyY2
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) September 17, 2026
Panicker also reacted to a fabricated Instagram story attributed to actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut.
What?! https://t.co/uftrM6OdLG
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) September 2, 2026
Panicker also targeted the special intensive revision of the electoral roll, claiming, “Those who lose their franchise should not worry. You will be added back after the elections.”
Those who lose their franchise should not worry. You will be added back after the elections. https://t.co/sYhlfd0wqU
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) September 1, 2026
Moreover, Panicker has continually attacked PM Modi and argued that he has done nothing for the poor and marginalised. He stressed that the latter divides people on religious grounds and accused him of delivering hate speech. He even made fun of PM Modi’s statement that he feels a divine connection to his birth.
Panicker also peddled fake news in relation to former National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge Ravindra Reddy in 2019.
Other similar faces joining “WTF Discourse”
“Journalist” Amit Varma, an admirer of leftist leader Kavita Krishnan who confessed to protecting NewsClick and refused to reveal their China links, has compared PM Modi to late PM Indira Gandhi and insisted that he has suppressed purported dissent through intimidation without officially implementing the emergency.
The statement was made in reaction to the submission of a supplementary chargesheet in connection with the Delhi riots, which named Apoorvanand, Yogendra Yadav, Jayanti Ghosh and others.
Narendra Modi is cut of the same cloth as Indira Gandhi — but he's smarter.
— Amit Varma (@amitvarma) September 12, 2020
He's figured that you don't need to declare an emergency & arrest everyone. Arrest some, harrass others, let the chilling effect kick in.
Soon, people will be wary of speaking out. Death of Dissent. https://t.co/g8kdHSbTgv
Varma dubbed PM Modi as embodying “statism, authoritarianism and incompetence” and described his supporters as “useful idiots.” He is a consistent detractor of PM Modi. On the other hand, he is an advocate of platforms such as “Alt News” and “The News Minute.”
Furthermore, author Hussain Indorewala, who will appear as a guest on the program, is a regular on “The Wire.” He has voiced objections to the government’s implementation of development schemes, particularly those affecting Mumbai. He protested against the much-needed metro depot project in Arrey, referring to it as a “gamble with the city’s future.”
Hussain claimed that “profiting from urban land is the sole criterion for determining how we shape our cities” instead of focusing on “environmental destruction, or risk to life and property of residents matters in the pursuit of commercial gain.”
Comedian Azeem Banatwalla of the currently inactive “East India Comedy” group will host two sessions on the program. He ridiculed Ganesh Chaturthi in 2015 by stating the festival is celebrated by a father slicing his son’s head.
As a result, netizens have articulated their displeasure with the involvement of these personalities, pointing out that they can not offer divergent opinions because they adhere to the same ideological beliefs.
