Indian nationalism
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India Is No Longer Legible to Pakistani Liberals
X.T.M argues that Pakistani liberals, especially those of Muhajir or North Indian lineage, project a pre-1947 India that no longer exists, using India as a stage for their liberalism while…
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Spiritual mothers of South Asia
The author traces the maternal figures in the national songs and anthems of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka back to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s 1882 novel Anandamath, arguing that Bharat Mata,…
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Why India’s National Calendar Needs Urgent Correction
X.T.M argues that India’s national holiday calendar is distorted, with five Abrahamic festivals central and most Dharmic ones optional. He proposes swapping them for five indigenous festivals, and contends that…
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Come Fly with me to Far Bombay
Writing from Bombay, X.T.M ranges across commentariat debates, praises Sher Shah Suri over the Mughals, comments on Hindutva and liberal intelligentsia, argues renaming Indian cities cost brand value, and sees…
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Bharat Needs No Validation
X.T.M takes a commenter’s remark that the Ramayana did not resonate as a cue to argue that Bharat is civilisational, that Pakistan is an ‘Urdufied Punjab’ still colonised in mind,…
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Let Hindus Decide for India
X.T.M argues that a coalition of Islamists, liberal elites and foreign commentators resists Hindu political consolidation, that Hinduism and India are coterminous, and that those who opted out of Hindustan…
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The Indian Overton: Opposition Offensives
The Emissary argues that India’s civilisational unity long predates its political unity, that Hindutva and development have strengthened it, and that the opposition, lacking a rival unifying ideology, risks denying…
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Romila Thapar: An Interview, and Some Thoughts
After an interview with Romila Thapar, the author accepts her ideal of the sceptical historian but asks what her overall worldview is, whether Marxist, and what vision of India she…
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Khalid Baig on Indian Nationalism and Islam
In a BP Podcast, Gaurav talks to Khalid Baig, described as an Indian nationalist, about Indian nationalism, Hindu-Muslim relations, Hindutva and India’s future; Baig also co-hosts the YouTube show India…
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Pankaj Mishra and His Discontents
Omar Ali reposts his 2014 reply to a Pankaj Mishra New York Times op-ed, calling the ‘Pankajist worldview’ superficial while conceding that Indian hypernationalism is as real, and potentially as…
