In this episode of NL Recess, The Deshbhakt founder and host Akash Banerjee joins Manisha Pande to talk about his work, the state of the media, and being a political satirist in India today.

“When you refuse to be bracketed by the Congress, or the AAP, or the BJP,” Akash explains, “you land up getting thrashed from many sides.” He says, “YouTube analytics tells me that 50 percent of the people who watch us regularly don’t subscribe to us. So, they are watching, but they don’t want to be associated with you. They don’t want to be known as your subscriber because you are not part of an ideology.”

On FIRs being filed against journalists and content creators for their work, Akash says he “works with the assumption that our turn will come”. “But look at the number of people who are coming into the system,” he adds. “How many FIRs will you file? How many people will you shut up?”

The conversation spans Akash’s experience of working alongside Arnab Goswami, what it means to question the government, and a lot more.

Watch.

Text by Utkarsh Tripathi.