A new controversy has erupted after therapist and content creator Divija Bhasin’s viral Instagram video, which social media users are calling the “Ra**i Revolution.” In the video, which has gained over 5.4 million views, Bhasin talks about how she decided to reclaim a word often used as a slur against women. 

She explains that she was repeatedly called that word in the comments on her posts, almost every day. “Men call me ra**i daily, so it doesn’t hurt anymore,” she says. For her, the term has lost its power to insult.

Bhasin says she now uses it proudly, saying, “I am a proud Ra**i. Ra**i supremacy.” She adds that the word originally meant “sex worker” and later became an insult, which, according to her, is unfair because the insult should target the men who exploit sex workers, not the women themselves.

To show how deeply rooted this problem is, Bhasin shared that when she asked her followers to talk about their own experiences, one woman said her father called her that word when she was just six years old. Bhasin said this shows how normalised verbal abuse against women has become in India.

In her video, she tells women who have faced such insults to reclaim the word instead of letting it hurt them. “If you’ve ever been called that word, just accept it. It will hurt less when you stop giving it power,” she said.

Soon, many women began adding #ProudRa*** to their Instagram bios** in support of her message, and that’s when controversy broke out. While some praised her for standing up to online abuse, others accused her of spreading “vulgarity” and influencing minors.

A man named Anubhav Gupta claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that he filed a POCSO complaint against her for allegedly encouraging minors to use abusive words. Another user, a lawyer from Mumbai, warned her to apologise or face an FIR, which she said she eventually filed.

Despite the backlash, Bhasin stood her ground. She replied that if she goes to jail for calling herself that word, then the men who used it against her should too. The video has now become a symbol of a larger conversation about misogyny, online abuse, and women reclaiming power through words, even if it means facing controversy to make a point.