I just want to briefly offer some thoughts since it’s now been a year since I have been active in this latest iteration of BP.
Over the past year on this forum, I have seen many members of the “Saffroniate” who seem to have no agenda except to disparage Pakistan. BB is chief among them but there are others who share essentially the same views but hide behind a tone of neutrality that allows them to claim the moral high ground. BB is the most open about his views. No other member of the “Saffroniate” has threatened to “infiltrate” Pakistan and make a Pakistani Muslim say “Bharat Mata ki Jai” at gunpoint. Such an egregious comment had obvious consequences–as it should have. While others have not crossed this line, it doesn’t mean that their anti-Pakistan attitude and Islamophobia is not obvious. The word “taqqiya” has been used in reference to me. Using this word for a Muslim is Islamophobic and completely unforgivable. I find it deeply ironic that those who are the first to complain about Hinduphobia have no problem resorting to obvious Islamophobic tropes.
While Indians have legitimate grievances with Pakistanis (as Pakistanis do with Indians), the way to generate a productive dialogue is not to use triggering language like “apartheid”, “kleptocracy” etc. This only causes the other side to double down on their own position and for people to talk past each other.
I also want to address the passive aggressive complaints that I have banned certain people from my threads. It is a settled principle on BP that authors have the right to manage their threads the way they like. This is a principle that has been hard fought for. I have made my red lines clear. I will not tolerate anti-Pakistan commentary or people taking a hostile and combative tone with me. If you can express your POV in a civilized manner while staying within these guidelines, then I will allow your comment to stand–no matter how much I may disagree with it. If not, it will be summarily deleted.
What’s ironic is that some of those who complain the most about this actually have author status and are able to create their own threads on whatever topic they wish. That they don’t use this status is their choice and not a reflection on me. It’s of course much easier to complain than it is to actually write your own posts. To his credit, BB actually uses his author status to make his own arguments. When he returns from his “vanvaas”, I hope he will contribute posts about Indian movies and TV shows. This would add to the varied mix of topics on this forum.
Lastly, I want to welcome the members of the “Cresenciate”. I hope, with time, one of them will graduate from commenter to author. It is important to have more Pakistani representation on this forum. This doesn’t mean that I always agree with them but it is good that all the work of countering the “Saffroniate” doesn’t fall on me.
It would be remiss of me not to mention those Indians who are not really part of the “Saffroniate” such as Gaurav and girmit who always contribute thoughtful points–though again I may vehemently disagree at times.
P.S. I was speaking with a new friend of mine from Hyderabad Deccan recently. He noted that the toxic obsession with Pakistan is a North Indian thing and that South Indians really don’t care all that much. This intuitively makes sense since of course the worst Partition atrocities occurred in Punjab and Bengal.