‘Watt Laga di Dada ji!’ Pakistani’s new found love for India
‘Watt Laga di Dada ji!’ Pakistani’s new found love for India
Regretting her forefather’s decision to migrate from India to Pakistan in 1947, the Pakistan journalist ‘Arzoo Kazmi’ tweeted on April 1st, “My brothers and other family members feel that they have no future in Pakistan. My grandfather and his family migrated from Prayagraj and Delhi to Pakistan for a better future. Watt laga di dada ji (created serious trouble, grandfather).”
Her tweet created a storm in Pakistan but she is not the only one who is feeling so, in recent times there is a flood of Pakistani YouTubers covering India. Pakistan’s public love for Indian movies is well known, also the love for Cricket. But the new interest in India is about its development story and the growing influence in the world, and on top, about India’s prime minister Narendra Modi.
Most of these YouTubers are from the young generation, they fearlessly cover India’s development and growth stories, and their videos have very good viewership in Pakistan. In India also, these YouTubers are watched with interest, and many of the Indian YouTubers are making money by just analysing these videos. Even Indian news channels are covering these videos, for the Pakistani reaction and new interest in India’s development story, as these stories are interesting to Indians.
What is interesting about these YouTubers is that they are common youth, they cover all aspects of India and also Kashmir. Probably, the new generation has realised that they were taken on a ride by their governments in the name of Kashmir and Anti-India rhetoric, and some are even regretting their forefather’s decision to move to Pakistan during a partition like the journalist ‘Arzoo Kazmi’.
‘Sana Amjad’ a very popular Pakistani YouTuber, with a subscriber base of 838k covers every news of India and takes a view of the Pakistani audience. One of her most popular videos is coverage of the ‘Condition of Hindus in Pakistan’. Her one video went viral where a local Abid Ali praised the Indian Prime minister. Abid Ali is now the most loved and hated person in Pakistan for his open love for Modi. Sohaib Chaudhury, a very popular Youtuber, also covers various aspects of India-Pakistan relationships, his coverage of PoK was one of the highlights.
These YouTubers have different ways to cover India’s stories. Like Daily Swag, a popular YouTube channel, where the anchor shows videos of India’s cities and asks the audience to guess them. Naila & Shaila two sisters show videos of India – like Hindu temples, Mango, Kashmir, and other aspects of India which are of interest. Similarly, Sista Family reaction – they show different videos like different cities of India, Indian products etc. With a counterpart in India, they would even have a conversation on various subjects.
Apart from India’s development stories, the other very popular topic is comparing prices across the border. The live videos of India’s mall or grocery outlets, markets, and even Mahindra’s THAR motorbikes, everything is of interest to Pakistani audiences.
The newfound interest in India has given rise to a lot of new Pakistani Youtubers, each one is trying to capture a different story of India. One reason is obviously that there is an audience for this content but also because of the Internet, history can no longer be hidden.
The new generation is probably retrospecting earlier generations’ decision for the hostile relationship with India, they do not want to carry the baggage of partition, and for a better future want to have peace with India, and of course trade. Only time will tell if this love is going to stay or fade away once the situation in Pakistan improves. But if Pakistan x India stories interest you then surely watch it!
Rakhi Sunil Kumar
