Another Browncast is up. You can listen on聽Libsyn,聽Apple,聽Spotify聽(and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don鈥檛 have a regular schedule is to聽subscribe聽to one of the links above!
Category: Omar Ali
Swastika: Good Fortune? or Nazi Hate Symbol?
Amish Tripathi is an author who also has a popular youtube channel where he regularly posts videos about aspects of Hinduism/Dharma. I happened to run across the above video and wanted to start a discussion about the topic, and about how “pro-Hindu” (or if you prefer, pro-Indic) influencers tend to address this question and if that approach can be improved.
India as a Civilizational State; Possibility or Delusion?
India, Pakistan, all that jazz..
Pahalgam and Aftermath
Someone on Twitter asked me for my opinion on Pahalgam and its aftermath now that several months have passed. I wrote up a quick reply, which I am posting here. I realize I am not writing much on this blog these days, but life has been busy and I barely keep up with Twitter and reading books, this blog gets pushed down.. But lets see if this sparks some discussion. Continue reading Pahalgam and Aftermath
USA, India, Pakistan.. an eternal prickly braid
Since the 1990s, Western powers (aka the USA and it’s vassals) have been building up a relationship with India that paints India as a fellow liberal Democracy (and a possible future partner against the new enemy bloc led by China). Beyond these propagandistic talking points, there is supposed to be real convergence on some big things: Demographics, slowly laid economic foundations and baseline cultural strengths combine to make India a rising economy; At a time when birth rates are below replacement in the first world, there is going to be no bigger source of labor or talent. If businesses have to “derisk” from china, they have southeast Asia and India as the natural targets. If other Asian countries are to resist total Chinese hegemony, there is no way to do that without Indian help. And so on.
Throughout this period there have been many prickly issues between the partners (eg a recurring complaint from India that the West supports Pakistan, which sends terrorists into India; on the other hand there is a recurring Pakistani complaint that the USA does not pay enough and (especially in the last decade) is too willing to accept India as the regional hegemon; and well justified complaints from everyone that India is too protectionist) but the public diplomacy has remained positive and feelgood for the most part. All that started to change somewhere in May 2025 and it has been rapidly downhill in the last one month as Trump has publicly attacked India for being protectionist, accused it of being a dead economy, and completely ignored Indian “sensitivities” about Pakistan.
Until now, Indian officialdom has tried to stay sober and avoid inflammatory responses, but they have also resisted the choice (already taken as the path of least resistance by UK, EU and Japan) of massaging Donald’s massive ego and nominating him for some Nobel prizes to get past any personal hurdles. But of course India’s social media army has no such hesitation and on that front the bonhomie of the last few years has completely evaporated, with Indian nationalists and White Nationalists (let us not be coy and recognize that MAGA is a White nationalist movement at heart) going at it hammer and tongs.
So what is going on? and why? and what happens next?聽I have no inside information, so I am perfectly placed to make some general comments and then ask better informed people to tell me why I am wrong. Here goes: Continue reading USA, India, Pakistan.. an eternal prickly braid
Browncast: Trump, Tariffs, Hurt Feelings, and India..
Another Browncast is up. You can listen on聽Libsyn,聽Apple,聽Spotify, and聽Stitcher聽(and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don鈥檛 have a regular schedule is to聽subscribe聽to one of the links above!
In this episode I talk to Kushal Mehra (Host of the Carvaka podcast) and regular Brownpundit Amey Chaugle about the tariff kerfuffle… the public (and on Trump’s side, frequently intemperate) war of words between the USA and India that is partly about India’s protectionist tariff regime but maybe mostly about other things (such as Donald’s ego and his desire to get that Nobel Peace Prize)..
Dig in and add your comments. We too don’t know exactly why this is going on and where it will end..聽 馃檪
Belated Podcast: Operation Sindoor (and Bunyan al Marsoos)
Another Browncast is up. You can listen on聽Libsyn,聽Apple,聽Spotify, and聽Stitcher聽(and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don鈥檛 have a regular schedule is to聽subscribe聽to one of the links above!
In this episode Amey hosts myself (omar) and Poulasta (our resident Bengali expert) to talk about the recent India-Pakistan kerfuffle. Amey was ready for war, but we found common ground 馃槈 (as usual with India and Pakistan, a lot of the discussion is about partition and related misunderstandings)
India and Pakistan, Back to the Future..
A group of terrorists attacked tourists in a remote meadow in Kashmir, identified those who were non-Muslim, and shot them dead (they also shot dead a Muslim tour guide who tried to oppose them). The horrendous and barbaric attack has led to a predictable outburst of harsh anti-Pakistan (and in many cases, anti-Muslim) outrage in India and the govt has already announced some steps against Pakistan and is presumably planning to undertake some more in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Pakistan (and individual patriotic Pakistanis) have taken to social media and traditional media to paint this as a “false flag attack” (i.e. carried out or planned by the Indian authorities themselves, presumably to allow them to retaliate against Pakistan; why?) or at least as India being “too quick to accuse Pakistan” (ie “we did not do it, and they are accusing us without proof”). This is all as expected in the usual India vs Pakistan show, but it is important to keep in mind that the situation has supposedly changed a little since 2019. Before that date there were many terrorist attacks in Kashmir and every major event would be followed by tit for tat exchanges along the line of control, but with both sides respecting “red lines”. Then in 2019 there was a large attack in Pulwama that was followed by an Indian retaliatory attack on a militant camp in Balakot in Pakistan proper (which crossed the previous red line of what retaliation was permissible). Since then there had been relative peace in kashmir and many commentators felt that the balakot bombing had established a new “red line”, that India will respond to any major attack in this or similar manner, so Pakistan has dialed down the terrorism it previously promoted in Kashmir. But if that is the case, then this attack obviously crosses that threshold and will lead to response. Irrespective of who is at fault and who did what, this was the supposed line and it has been crossed, so what next?聽
As usual, i dont know. But lets list the questions and possible answers.
- IF this was indeed planned by Pakistan, then the question is “why”? Why now?
Possible answers and objections: Continue reading India and Pakistan, Back to the Future..
Constitutional Preambles in South Asia
an old article from our archive that has become hard to find, so reposting.
Most Countries around the world have a single consolidated written document as their Constitution (UK, New Zealand, Israel and Canada being notable exceptions here) and among these, a great many also have a preamble- a brief introductory text, preceding the main body of the written constitution. Preamble is essentially a polemic/set of guiding principles/visionary statement on the part of Constitution makers, before laying the foundation of a State in the main body. While it is of little consequence in day to day workings of a State, a Preamble does give us a fascinating insight into the ideals and cultural-historical myths propagated by a State- the context, the bigger picture, THE purpose behind that particular State鈥檚 existence.
Japan鈥檚 post-war preamble, for instance, vouches for International Peace and affirms that people of Japan shall never again be visited by horrors of war due to Government actions. French Preamble recalls Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and establishes France as a secular and democratic country. Likewise, North Korean Preamble promises a self-reliant socialist state that has realised the ideas and leadership of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
And what do South Asian Preambles say? All 7 South Asian Countries
have a written constitution and all, but Maldives, have a preamble. Here鈥檚 the list:
have a written constitution and all, but Maldives, have a preamble. Here鈥檚 the list: