Netizens are determined to set the facts straight after Ariana Grande’s “dupatta” created a ruckus online. X turned into a warzone where it was hard to determine whether the dupatta belonged to India or Pakistan. Ariana Grande appeared on The Tonight Show ft. Jimmy Fallon, wearing a black dress with a scarf draped around her neck that seemed like a dupatta. Referring to her as ‘Pakistaina Grande’, a user posted on X:
love the dupatta pakistiana grande
pic.twitter.com/PFSsM3enym— amal (@judenators) November 19, 2025
The tweet sparked a frenzy between the two countries, with arguments over which side of the border the ethnic drapery belonged to. While it linked back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, the debate remained over who owned it more. The Indian side linked it to Vedic origins, while the Pakistanis linked it to the Harappan lineage.
As the debate grew, sanity prevailed with netizens debating that the dupatta is a shared culture that belongs to both India and Pakistan, as they both shared a heritage before the partition in 1947. Talking about the garment’s history, a user shut down any unwanted claims and arguments. He stated:
the dupatta comes from the whole south asian subcontinent — pakistan, india, bangladesh. it’s shared history, not something any one country “owns.”
the word itself comes from “du” (two) + “patta” (cloth), and it’s been around since ancient times — indus valley era old. mughals… https://t.co/1VE6vziNmt— wish🧸 ciar (@jeffcore_b) November 21, 2025
Linking the drape to the subcontinent, another user wrote about the shared history of the two countries and said:
Ever heard of the term shared history? We literally were the same country once thus neither country can claim origins of dupatta belongs to the entire subcontinent https://t.co/s1sbtqfyjB
— Hussaina (@H_antaria) November 20, 2025
A user focused on how the countries were parted, hence the shared culture is not unlikely. They wrote:
You do remember India and Pakistan were partitioned right? Meaning it was one nation right? Meaning we do have infinite number of shared traditions and cultures right?
— Samya Singh (@samyyyasays) November 20, 2025
Stating that both India and Pakistan are South Asian countries, hence the argument of who owns a cultural fabric more is uncalled for, a user said:
why are y’all so??? India and Pakistan literally share 90% of similarities in terms of culture, cuisine, landscape, etc like when will we stop acting like one country is south Asian and other Scandinavian or something??? https://t.co/f36actBOww
— D || 🇵🇸 (@kooinmyheart) November 20, 2025
A netizen urged people to refer dupatta as a South Asian attire and get over it. They stated:
i’m so tiredddd literally india and pakistan were the same country it’s not gonna be that different call it south asian or something because it ain’t that deep https://t.co/7D2eIysFsN
— miss (@sunflowerfiz) November 20, 2025
Some even joked that while we argue about the origin of the dupatta, Ariana Grande will link it to the West. A user wrote on X:
Ariana Grande is carrying ‘Dupatta’, part of Indian attire but she will obviously not call it that because “everything was invented in the West” 🙃pic.twitter.com/xOtqvVXfqE
— Monica Verma (@TrulyMonica) November 20, 2025
Another stated that in the war of the dupatta, we missed how Western her dress was. They wrote:
they’re whining about which nationality gets to jokingly claim the western dress ariana grande is wearing please unclench 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/PEPCWWFZkI
— rameen (@rameenwhile) November 20, 2025
