Aatish Taseer on Exile, Modi Criticism, and Loss of Indian Citizenship

Revocation of Overseas Citizenship

• 📌 Aatish Taseer, author of "A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile," discusses the revocation of his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) status.
• 💔 The decision came months after he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi "India's Divider in Chief" in a 2019 Time magazine article.
• 😔 Taseer describes the revocation as emotionally shattering, preventing him from traveling to India, a country where he lived most of his life and where his mother resides.
• 🎭 The government cited his estranged Pakistani politician father, a fact Taseer had extensively documented, as a reason for the OCI revocation.

Personal and Political Exile

• 🏠 Taseer felt his OCI status was a way of "hiding in plain sight" given his lifelong connection to India.
• 🗣️ He was recast as a Pakistani or intruder, with a "troll army" used to discredit him in the public sphere.
• 📚 Taseer's books, including his new one, anticipated the rise of a figure like Modi, stemming from his observations of the dangerous political and cultural remove of India's upper classes.
• 🌍 He sought to bridge the gap left by colonial history by learning Hindi and Sanskrit later in life.

Reflections on Identity and Loss

• 💔 The inability to mourn his grandmother's death in India due to his OCI status added a layer of absurdity to his life.
• ✍️ Despite the personal cost, Taseer has no regrets about his critical article on Modi, stating that fear would be a "death for you as a writer."
• 🏳️‍🌈 He candidly writes about his sexuality to signal that happiness and a full gay life are possible in India and to explore an aspect of his life he had previously not addressed as a writer.

Global Political Climate

• ⚠️ Taseer expresses significant wariness about the future, drawing parallels between the current Western political climate and historical moments of shattered plurality, like Spain's "convenencia."
• ⏳ He believes the past 70 years have been a glorious moment for migration and developing new identities, but a backlash has been building.
• 🌍 He emphasizes the need to "weather the storm" and hopes that the familiar shape of society will survive.

Bangladesh Political Tensions

• 🇧🇩 Tensions are high in Bangladesh on the anniversary of Sheikh Hasina's ouster.
• ⚖️ Despite pledges from the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, deep divisions and political uncertainty persist.
• 💥 Violent clashes occurred between supporters of Hasina's Awami League and the student-led movement NCP.
• 🚫 The Islamist party Jamat-e-Islami has returned to politics, filling a political vacuum alongside the NCP.
• ⏳ Elections have been delayed, and Hasina faces trial for crimes against humanity, though India has not yet extradited her.

North Korean Defectors in K-Pop

• 🎶 A new five-member K-pop band named Universe is making their debut, notably including two North Korean defectors.
• 🎤 The members, hailing from Japan, the US, and North Korea, have forged a bond through music.
• 💔 One defector, Hyuk, shares his story of life in North Korea and his feelings of his life breaking apart on the group's debut single, "Shattered."
• 🎵 Another defector, Seok, was inspired by K-pop after escaping North Korea and encountering music like "Gangnam Style."
• ⚠️ The debut occurs amidst reports of Pyongyang cracking down on the consumption of South Korean culture, including K-pop.