Brown Pundits

I actually agree with Kabir on one key point — I don’t think people should be brought back to Brown Pundits merely as bait or for spectacle. The value of this space has never been provocation for provocation’s sake.

What makes Brown Pundits “gold” is that it forces us to face uncomfortable truths: about ourselves, our societies, our religions, our histories. The goal isn’t comfort; it’s clarity.

That’s why I push back when people say “don’t talk about caste” or “that’s offensive.” Caste, class, and every other structural reality are not optional topics — they’re fundamental to understanding how our societies actually work. Discussing them honestly is the only way to make sense of why things function, and malfunction, as they do.

If we avoid those hard conversations, the whole project collapses into noise. The point is not to inflame, but to illuminate— even when illumination burns a little.

The Pakistani establishment elites have zero understanding of modern India. They don’t make any serious effort to understand it.

India-Pakistan: A link sustained only through violence

girmit‘s response is probably the most nuanced I have seen in a long while. Quality comments like this keep Interdiction holding up. Girmit has been making such type of qualified and interrogated comments for more than a decade now at BP (after the jump): Continue reading the highest signal comment of the last 48 hours

1. On Chasing Lost Voices and Losing the Plot

JTL suggested we bring back “Bhimrao, Saurav, Prats, the Tam Brahm married to a Sri Lankan.” Let’s be clear: BP isn’t going to go chasing ghosts. We already have 14 active authors; the goal now isn’t expansion, it’s distillation.

Authorship should mean something. To make it valuable, the inactive will have to go and be replaced. There’s a point at which nostalgia becomes necrosis; when a space keeps trying to resurrect the same arguments instead of evolving beyond them. Kabir’s Substack is a window into Elitestan, which I respect.

2. The Echo Chamber Problem

Endlessly reinforcing a Saffronite echo chamber isn’t vitality; it’s entropy. Even when these voices appear “discordant,” they’re usually quibbling on details inside the same frame. And when genuine Pakistani voices are sidelined so that incorrect takes on Pakistan can circulate unchallenged, something’s gone wrong.

The country has done remarkably well post-Pahalgam and navigated certain transitions far better than many care to admit. I rarely see the Saffroniate yield on that except grudgingly; how can one properly analyse what they hate?

Right now, the blog has rhythm. Diwali may be over, but the interdiction hasn’t lifted yet (apparently in anticipation, Qureshi has taken on a new Avatar, as I like to say scratch a Pakistani, wound a Hindu)— meaning, metaphorically, Loki has yet to return with the forces of Ragnarök.

In the interim let us strengthen Asgard itself & let’s see where that leads.

3. On Caste and the Polite Lie

There’s this cultivated discomfort around talking about caste — as if it’s rude or too personal.cBut caste isn’t a dinner-table topic; it’s the architecture of Indian society and the Saffroniate. Pretending it’s impolite to speak about it simply preserves privilege. Most of the saffronite commentariat are upper-caste; when they do speak of caste, it’s often un-interrogated.

Brown Pundits was designed to be uncomfortable. If you come here to feel safe, you’ve mistaken the room.

4. The Aurangzeb Clause

Now, on a personal note — since Dr. V’s identity (IHS) takes precedence over mine (BPB), that hierarchy inevitably colors how I write. It lends the blog its saffron hue, and I’m fine with that. It’s the tension that gives this space its elasticity.

People sometimes ask why I don’t “interrogate my own biases.” Well of course I have but the answer is simple: Aurangzeb is not a hill to die on. The Mughals were complex; the demolition of Babri Masjid was inhumane and reckless (the equivalent to destroying the Aya Sofia). I know that. But complexity is the price of belonging.

To gain full entry into Bharat; to speak as one of her own, you pick your battles and who you must give up. I chose to kick my Mughal padres to the wayside in my Hindufication and baptism from Mleccha to caste Hindu. And virtually no kin of mine, even the most liberal-minded in the Ummah, will ever do the same.

5. The Work Ahead

So, no, we’re not reviving old cycles. We’re pruning, refining, and staying porous enough to hold contradiction. Caste is not impolite. Aurangzeb may not be evil. They are the two mirrors in which this subcontinent still sees itself — one social, one civilizational. The task is to look straight into both and while I can’t & won’t fight those battles since I took on the Saffron orders and joined Asgard, I won’t disallow lost kin from waging their own battles in what they see as truth. The Golden Age in Norse Mythology, only starts after Ragnarök is concluded.