India renames traditional sweets to replace word ‘Pak’ due to association with Pakistan

JAIPUR: Following the recent ceasefire agreement with Pakistan, reports indicate a surge of Hindu nationalism has led to some cultural changes in India, including the renaming of traditional sweets.

Indian media has indicated that sweet shop owners in Jaipur, Rajasthan, have changed the names of sweets; as an example, ‘Moti Pak’, ‘Aam Pak’, and ‘Gond Pak’ are now called ‘Moti Shree’, ‘Aam Shree’, and ‘Gond Shree’.

The change is in order to eliminate the word ‘Pak’- a common ending in Indian sweets– which some now associate with Pakistan. Shopkeepers claim the renaming represents the zeitgeist of nationalism and demonstrates solidarity with the Indian army after ‘Operation Sindoor’.

However, this is not the first time that India has taken such an extremist step; earlier, Pakistani songs were removed from the popular streaming platform Spotify in India following a government advisory.

The move came amid India’s recent boycott campaign against Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack and military aggression.

Popular tracks such as Maand, Jhol, Faasle, and others have disappeared from the platform, NDTV reported.

As per details, the Indian government on May 8 issued an advisory directing all OTT platforms, media streaming services, and digital intermediaries to immediately cease the streaming of content originating from Pakistan.

The platforms were advised to discontinue the web series, films, songs, podcasts, and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription-based model or otherwise, having their origins in Pakistan, with immediate effect, the advisory read.