The Hindi heartland is a centuries old formation of shifting identities, contested histories and changing social equations, with an undeniable impact on the rest of the country. Ghazala Wahab, who has extensively studied the caste, religion, language and politics of this vast and infinitely complex region, speaks with Rakhshanda Jalil and Siddhesh Gautam, in a discussion chaired by Rahul Bhatia, about the conditions and forces re-shaping the cultural and political landscape of northern India, and what these transformations reveal about, and mean for, the India of today.