For months now, Ramit Verma, creator of Peeing Human, has been taking on the establishment in hilarious meme videos, which mock the antics of the "desh bhakts" and "Godi media". Verma rarely makes a hero out of anyone, except for his home favourite, journalist and Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Ravish Kumar. Last week, however, a surprise Candidate No. 2 emerged in Professor Gourav Vallabh, the national spokesperson of the Indian National Congress. A seven minute-long video titled Sambit Patra (Cong) versus Sambit Patra (BJP), uploaded by Verma, shows Vallabh taking down the BJP's media panelist Patra one question at a time, in a live Hindi news channel debate on the completion of 100 days of the Modi government. "Yeh batao, trillion mein kitne zeroes hote hain?" Vallabh is seen asking Patra in the video, referring to PM Narendra Modi's plans to make India a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024. Not only did Patra draw a blank, his silly whataboutery made him the butt of Internet jokes. Vallabh, on the other hand, became a social media star overnight.

"I have done better debates before. To be honest, I was only doing my job," admits an amused Vallabh in a telephonic interview from Gurugram. "As a professor [of finance], it irritated me no end to constantly hear the ruling party throw this five trillion figure at the janta. Also, how is this figure going to change your life or mine? My reaction was instinctive. It didn't come from a place of testing the IQ of the gentleman who I was debating with. I just wanted to convey how ill-prepared he was," adds Vallabh, who says he researches for at least six hours before participating in any panel or media discussion.