New Delhi: This is the meaning of true love — that’s the title of a 53-second teaser uploaded a week ago on the internet that has motivational speaker Vivek Bindra asking ISKON’s Gauranga Dasa “if giving respect qualifies as love.” The video ends with a picture of Bindra smiling ear to ear, pointing his index fingers at the viewer and with a message that promises a 10-day MBA.
The clip that has now 127K views has many comments saying “I stand with Bindra”. Theirs is a response to the recent controversies — from allegations of fraud to domestic violence against wife — the motivational speaker is now mired in.
The insane cult-like following Bindra acquired online and now the allegations and infamy reflects the desperate search of mentors among Tier-2 and Tier-3 youth in a landscape predominantly devoid of hope and opportunities. The number of wildly popular self-help influencers, tuition-entrepreneurs, faux motivational and aspirational speakers on YouTube is a disturbing new phenomenon in contemporary India. In many ways, they are India’s new god men, popping up on a smart phone near you. There is no check on their content, domain knowledge, and their loyal followers don’t scrutinise them enough either.
What Bindra offers is a seductive mix of Ambani-Zuckerberg dreams, wisdom from the Bhagwat Gita and low-hanging MBA jargons.
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The man and the controversies
Bindra and his company — Bada Business Pvt Ltd (BBPL) — are being accused of making clickbait ads promising tantalising get-rich-quick dreams. And he does it through the promise of sketchy MBA programmes and business consultancy courses for as high as Rs 80,000. A new one is a 10-day MBA course. He knows his target audience only too well. In one of the videos, he claims that over 25 crore students in India are looking for jobs and the biggest problem they face is lack of skills. And BBPL uses names of OYO’s Ritesh Aggarwal, actor Vivek Oberoi and Patanjali chairman Acharya Balkrishna’s names to sell the courses. Refereeing to these public figures, the ads say: jinke baare mein log padhte hain, vo hamare yahan padhate hain (these people teach at our centres).
ThePrint reached out to Bindra via phone and email but failed to receive a response. He has also disabled people from commenting on his social media accounts but continues to post daily motivational videos.
Ishan Goel, Chief Marketing Officer of BBPL, denied all allegations of fraud by the company. “We follow all the rules and we also have a refund policy, those who do not like the course, they apply for a refund and they get the money back on time,” he said.
But it’s not just the allegations of education fraud and domestic violence that have brought Bindra trouble. Last year, the influencer waded into the caste debate. That’s when his carefully built brand took the first hit.
In an interview given to news portal Lallantop, Bindra said that Brahmin is the intellectual class of society. “Shudra is the ‘Assistant Class’ of society. He can be Minus 1 but cannot be No.1. Don’t make a Shudra a leader”.
Bindra has also drawn flak for the depiction of Guru Gobind Singh in one of his videos. He used an animation of the Sikh Guru angering the community. However, he later issued apology, citing ignorance.
In 2018, he was accused of using derogatory language against doctors in a video and a defamation case of Rs 50 crore was filed by Indian Medical Association. The court ruled in Bindra’s favour citing freedom of expression.
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Of false dreams and promises
Bindra shows people a larger-than-life image in his videos, particularly targeting the 18-25 years age group. “He repeatedly narrates stories of successful people and assures that if they remained connected with him, he would make them successful like Ambani and Zuckerberg,” a former associate of Bindra told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Bindra is living the life he promises his subscribers. The motivational speaker lives in a luxurious upscale Noida neighbourhood, loves to spend time on Islands of Maldives, said one of his close aides on condition of anonymity. He owns a fleet of Volvo XC90 SUV, Mercedes Benz JLC SUV and BMW X7. In April, Bindra organised a lavish event on his birthday in Delhi that saw Bollywood singer B Praak perform.
26-year-old Bijendra Chaudhary, a follower of Bindra, was shocked to know that the motivational speaker was facing allegations of domestic violence and fraud. Chaudhary first heard Bindra in 2017 and was impressed by the former’s clarity on topics and mannerism.
He repeatedly narrates stories of successful people and assures that if they remained connected with him, he would make them successful like Ambani and Zuckerberg, says a former associate of Bindra
For the likes of Chaudhary, it is difficult to comprehend new revelations about Bindra. Their trust was unwavering. “Now we know that a successful man looks good but no one knows him from inside. People are inspired by the external image. They become good in front of people because that is their work,” said a visibly disappointed Choudhary who runs a coaching institute in East Delhi.
Sachin Bajaj, a resident of Rajasthan, was the first one to blow whistle on Bindra 11 months ago. He made a video on YouTube. Bindra’s company put a lot of pressure on him to remove the content.
“Hundreds of deceived people were coming to me, including tea vendors and daily wage labourers who were buying Bindra’s courses by taking loans,” Bajaj, who is a direct sales person and lives in Jaipur, told ThePrint.
In 2016, Bajaj attended some of Bindra’s sessions both in Delhi and Jaipur, tickets for which cost between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000. Instead of talking about the technical tools to grow the business, Bindra told them how you can become an Ambani or a Zuckerberg. “I attended three sessions and was surprised that the same content was presented in all three,” said Bajaj.
For these courses, the BBPL staff reaches out to prospective people on WhatsApp and in many cases, payment is done via UPI and screenshots shared. Now, these screenshots are popping on the internet and people demanding their money back.
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The victims
Harshit Gupta, a Kanpur resident and a CA by profession joined Bindra in the hope of learning the skill to increase his client base. He enrolled in the Independent Business Consultant (IBC) programme paying Rs 83,000 and came to Delhi in February for a three-day training.
What happed at the workshop in Delhi was nowhere close to a professional programme that promises career advancement.
His staff, before Bindra’s arrival in the session, created an atmosphere akin to some reality TV show, asking people to clap and shout and flash their phone torch. All this is recorded and uploaded on YouTube.
“Everything that you see in these videos is scripted,” said Gupta.
Instead of imparting knowledge that would benefit Gupta professionally, Bindra only talked about the lives of successful people, giving information that is already available in the public domain. All in a dramatic fashion.
I was told that we would get clients so that your income would increase but we were made salesmen and asked to sell courses of Bada Business Pvt Ltd, says Harshit Gupta who enrolled in one of Bindra’s courses
“I was told that we would get clients so that your income would increase but we were made salesmen and asked to sell courses of Bada Business Pvt Ltd,” said Gupta who wants his money back.
BBPL told these people that they will be given 33 per cent commission if they sold the company’s courses. Recalling the second day of the training session, Gupta said that they were asked to do a “break zero sale” — their first sale. “And in case we found it difficult to get hold of a client, we should sell it to our family members.”
The incentive promised was a chance to get photographed with Bindra!
Nearly 100 people out of the batch of 300 completed the break zero sale, but felt cheated at the end of the day.
The IBC course offered online training, video lectures, live webinars, and assignments. IBC and other courses that BBPL offers generally do not have a stated curriculum. Instead, they promise “opportunity to earn Rs 1 to 10 lakh per month” and “opportunity to be recognised in Bindra’s digital webinars and YouTube videos.”
This initiative by Dr. Vivek Bindra is a great step towards empowering the Indian entrepreneurs and it will help our country achieve the goal of a $5 trillion economy and this programme will change the entrepreneurial ecosystem in our country, said Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal at the launch of the Billionaire’s Blueprint Programme this year.
Filled with the desire to achieve success, thousands of unemployed/underemployed youth are attracted toward Bindra and his promises.
30-year-old Shiv Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, who works in a facility management job in a private company in Haryana and wanted to learn some skills for growth. That took him to Bindra’s BBPL. He bought a Business Coaching Program (BCP) course worth Rs 30,000 in October 2021 but he was only disappointed.
Bindra’s company pitches BCP as the “world’s most affordable entrepreneur education training programme”, which helps SMEs to do big business.
“I wanted a job-oriented programme so that I could improve my skills, but these courses focused on personality development, for which a huge amount of Rs 30,000 was taken from me,” said a furious Kumar who enrolled in 2021 after taking a loan. Now he wants his money back.
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The expose and the outcry
People who paid for these courses are coming out on Twitter and Facebook, saying they have been cheated. Now they are tagging PM Modi to cabinet minister Goyal and even RBI, calling Bindra a fraud. Most of the aggrieved who are demanding justice on social media accuse Bindra and his company of not providing the specific skill set they had been promised as part of the course. Rather they were asked to make clients for BBPL.
Maheshwer Peri, founder of Careers360 and the man who carried out the expose on Bindra on Twitter, said people look for shortcuts to achieve success. “People like Bindra use language skills with full conviction to woo people and make unreasonable promises,” he said, adding that Bindra has the gift of the gab and easily convinces people; identifying these types of fraud is very easy.
“Basic research can reveal these lies but students do not want to read and search. They believe what they are shown,” he said.
Ernst and Young audits our company. There are no discrepancies in our system–says Bindra
Peri said that Bindra caught his attention when he launched a 10-Day MBA programme for the ‘over 25 crore students in India looking for jobs’. For Peri, taking on fake MBA institutions had been familiar territory.
What stood out for Peri were BBPL’s financial statements. Of the Rs 308 crore that Bindra’s firm made over two financial years, a huge chunk — Rs 227 crore — came in the form of non-refundable franchise fees.
Peri said Bindra is using the term ‘MBA’ to sell marketing courses because lakhs of people can be mobilised in the name of MBA.
Bindra has rejected these allegations in a video. “Ernst and Young audits our company. There are no discrepancies in our system,” he claimed in his video and challenged Sandeep Maheshwari, who has accused him of fraud.
Instead, he has deflected the blame on people who bought his courses, saying some IBCs used his name to make money and that BBPL was setting up a new department to keep a check on such discrepancies.
People like Bindra use language skills with full conviction to woo people and make unreasonable promises– Maheshwer Peri, founder of Careers360
Bindra’s popularity rose exponentially in the last decade when he started making videos in 2014 as a motivational speaker on YouTube. With 3.9 million followers on Instagram, 10 million on Facebook and 21.4 million subscribers on YouTube, every word he speaks matters. To up the spirit of his audiences, Bindra chants motivational slogans. His trademark roar being “I can, I will, bounce back.”
“The reason for such fraud is the aspirational revolution in the country. Exposure to hyper media has made people dream. Big things are talked about. But the reality is harsh. Everyone is looking for avenues to move ahead in life but there is no one to tell them the truth. So they are taking chances on their own and getting trapped in fraud,” said Surinder Jodhka, Professor of Sociology, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Middle class aspiration, Jodhka said, has become a norm and technology has made it even easier.
Rajesh Gautam, Professor of anthropology at Dr. Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar said that “India has a large population in the age group of 10-35 years and this age group is very vibrant and needs to be kept engaged. The country has weakened institutionally in the last few years. Unemployment and despair among the people have increased, hence people are easily getting trapped in the clutches of scamsters,” said.
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Ministers in Bindra durbar, personal life
Bindra’s name has become big in the last few years and the guests on his show include Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Dr Jitendra Singh, actor Piyush Mishra, Rajpal Yadav, singer Jubin Notiyal, cricketer Gautam Gambhir, comedian Kapil Sharma and Baba Bageshwar. All have appeared on his show The Bada Bharat.
In one of the episodes of The Bada Bharat Show, East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir blamed CM Kejriwal for lack of infrastructure. “The government has no money. How will it spend on infrastructure when you distribute everything for free,” said the former cricketer. It’s at Bindra’s show that Gambhir said there should not be any bilateral series between India and Pakistan until cross-border terrorism ends.
People in Bindra’s ecosystem said he enhances his brand image by inviting big faces to his programmes. “Inviting celebrities in programmes has been a part of a fixed strategy so that people’s trust in Bindra increases and on the basis of that trust, they connect with him,” a former associate of Bindra told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
On YouTube, he has made videos on cricket, religion, economy, foreign affairs, annual budget, population growth and even Adani. He is seen speaking loudly in these videos and indulges in heavy usage of graphics and animation to put across his point. It’s all a presentation where he projects himself as an expert on every subject, sometimes also appearing on TV channels too.
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Assault on wife
After the case of assault on wife against Bindra came to light, people are raising questions on social media that the person who sells ‘success’ has a failed personal life.
A video of Bindra’s wife has gone viral on social media in which she is seen showing her injuries at a private hospital. Kwatra has cut marks on her hands, swelling on her cheeks and blue patches on her legs.
On 6 December, Bindra married Yanika Kwatra, a resident of Chander Nagar in Ghaziabad. And the very next day of the wedding, the woman reported assault at the hands of her husband. This is Bindra’s second marriage. His first marriage was to Geetika Sabarwal in 2010 and a few years later, she too had accused Bindra of domestic violence. A case in this regard is going on in a Faridabad court.
Yanika’s brother Vaibhav Kwatra alleged her sister was beaten very badly on next morning of the marriage, after which she was admitted to Kailash Deepak Hospital in Karkardooma, Delhi. Sources in the hospital administration confirmed that Yanika had many injuries on her body and her ear was badly damaged.
Kwatra’s family is planning further action against Bindra even as Noida DSP Harish Chander said that an FIR has been registered against the influencer on 14 December under IPC sections 323, 504, 427, 325. All bailable offences. Chander said Yanika Kwatra has a lot of injury marks on her body. Yanika’s lawyer Vasu Sharma told ThePrint that his client’s statement is yet to be recorded. Bindra will soon be called to record his statement, said Chander.
“We have taken the case of domestic violence to Noida court,” said Ishan Goel, chief marketing officer of his company Bada Business Private Limited.
People who have lost their money due to Bindra’s course are now planning to protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding refund of the money. “People from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha have their money stuck. We will plan and protest in Delhi so that Bindra can be taken into custody,” said Bajaj, who is mobilising the victims.
“Bindra made his name big in the last several years through social media, now he is being abused by everyone. Social media is like a double-edged sword. It can strike at any time,” he added.
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Ambitions
It’s is Bindra’s high energy intense talking that gives hope to thousands of youth whose life isn’t moving ahead professionally.
In his videos, the influencer uses jargons to woo people — chhoti soch, pao ki moch, aage nahi badhne deti, 5 saal mein carorepati kaise bane, duniya ka sabse bada webinar. These are his catchwords. His website claims he is the only business mentor in the world to have received 12 world records.
Bindra wanted to do something big in life from the very beginning. He has worked very hard, only then he has reached this position–says a friend of Bindra who knows him from School
Bindra’s family came to India from Pakistan at the time of Partition. Born in a Khatri family in Delhi, he had a very tense childhood and his father died when he was very young. He studied at Delhi’s Saint Xavier’s School and then pursued his MBA from Amity University, Noida. It is at Amity that he was introduced to Bhagavad Gita, said a close friend of Bindra.
“Bindra wanted to do something big in life from the very beginning. He has worked very hard, only then he has reached this position,” said the friend, who knows Bindra from School, on condition of anonymity.
And the recent controversies do not surprise his friend.
“He is a person who will go to any extent to get something. He gets angry quickly and he likes to get his point across.”
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)