Kangana Ranaut jumps into work-life balance debate, bats for ’normalising obsessive work culture’ after PM Modi’s speech

Stressing the need to "normalise obsessive work culture", actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday said Indians can't afford to be lazy as the country is yet to become a developed nation.

Ranaut shared her thoughts in an Instagram Story, in which she posted a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the staffers of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) after he began his third term on Monday.

"My every moment is for the country," Modi had said, asserting that he had promised to work round the clock to achieve the goal of India becoming a developed country by 2047.

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In her post, Ranaut wrote that the concept of weekends was nothing but "western brainwashing".

"We need to normalise obsessive work culture and stop waiting for the weekends and complaining about Mondays memes. That's all western brainwashing; we are not a developed nation yet, and we can't afford to be bored and lazy at all," she captioned her post.

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Ranaut, a popular face from Bollywood and a long-time Modi supporter, was elected from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, her home state, in her first election. She defeated Vikramaditya Singh, the son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh.

The work-life balance debate

Kangana Ranaut is not the first person to support obsessive working hours. Earlier this month, Nilesh Shah, CEO of Kotak AMC, emphasised that for India to fast-track its economic growth, one generation must embrace the work ethic prevalent in countries like Korea, Japan, and China, where working 12-hour days is common practice.

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Responding to Shah's claim, Devina Mehra, Founder and Chairperson of First Global, categorically dismissed his suggestion of working 84 hours a week for nation-building, calling it “impractical and counterproductive".

(With Inputs from agencies)