Who is Viraansh Bhanushali? Oxford student’s Pakistan speech goes viral: ‘You can’t shame a state that has no shame’

Oxford Union debate: Who is Viraansh Bhanushali, the student behind the viral Pakistan speech

• Oxford Union president accused of misleading debate stunt, sparking controversy
• Indian student Viraansh Bhanushali's Oxford debate speech goes viral
• Bhanushali used personal trauma to counter claims of India's populism.

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Mumbai-born Oxford law student Viraansh Bhanushali has drawn widespread attention after a fiery speech at the Oxford Union, delivered amid a controversy involving its Pakistani president, Moosa Harraj, who was accused of staging a misleading stunt that allowed Pakistan to claim “victory” in a debate that never formally took place. The disputed motion argued that India’s policy towards Pakistan is a populist strategy sold as security policy.

While the high-profile debate involving politicians from India and Pakistan collapsed amid claims of mishandled invitations, a separate student-led debate on the same motion was held in November at Oxford University.

In that debate, the Indian side mounted a strong rebuttal led by Bhanushali, whose speech has now gone viral after the Oxford Union released the video earlier this month. “We have learnt it the hard way, you cannot shame a state that has no shame,” Bhanushali said, referring to Pakistan’s record on terrorism.

“This House Believes That India's Policy Towards Pakistan Is a Populist Disguise for Security Policy.” Viraansh Bhanushali, a law student from Mumbai at the University of Oxford, delivered a compelling opposition speech in the Oxford Union debate on the motion “This House… pic.twitter.com/RWbAw5MfOv

— Augadh (@AugadhBhudeva) December 22, 2025

Bhanushali spoke at the Oxford Union just a day after November 26, a date synonymous in India with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Like millions of Mumbaikars, he lived through the trauma of the assaults carried out by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan, which killed more than 250 people across multiple locations.

Opening his speech with a personal account, Bhanushali recalled how his aunt narrowly escaped death at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

“One of those targets was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), the very station that my aunt passed through almost every evening. By chance or by providence she took a different train home that night, narrowly escaping the fate of the 166 souls that did not...”

“I was a schoolboy then, glued to the television as my city burnt. I remember the fear in my mother's voice on the phone, the tension in my father's clenched jaw. For three nights, Mumbai did not sleep and neither did I,” he said.

He said he shared the story to ground the debate in lived reality, noting that a railway station near his home was also targeted during the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

“So when someone claims that India's tough stance towards Pakistan is merely populism masquerading as security policy, you might understand why I bristle,” he said.

“To win this debate, I do not need to use rhetoric. I simply need to use a calendar,” Bhanushali added, listing terror attacks that occurred years away from elections.

Referring to the 1993 blasts, he said: “257 people died... Was there an election in March 1993? No. That election was 3 years away... Terror did not come because we needed a vote. It came because Dawood and the ISI wanted to fracture India's financial spine. That was not populism. That was an act of war.”

He argued that India’s restraint after 26/11 disproved claims of election-driven security policy.

“What would a populist government do after 26/11? The public rage was nuclear. A populist leader would have just launched the jets to win the next election,” he said, adding that restraint led instead to further attacks such as Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama.

Addressing recent violence in Pahalgam, he said terrorists “didn't ask who they voted for. They executed them”.

Explaining Operation Sindoor, Bhanushali said: “We punished the perpetrators. And then what? We stopped. We did not invade. We did not occupy. That is not populism. That is professionalism.”

He concluded with a sharp critique of Pakistan’s leadership.

“You cannot give your people bread, so you give them the circus,” he said.

“But until the state that defends itself stops using terror as an instrument of foreign policy, we will keep our powder dry. If that is populism, then I am a populist.”

Bhanushali’s speech has since attracted millions of views online, with many praising the Indian student for dismantling Pakistan’s narrative using history rather than rhetoric.