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Cricket, and a community goes for a
six!
The Sikhs know
what it means. In the post 9/11 phase, they went through a series of
attacks and suddenly found that people in America, Europe and many
other places had no idea of who they are, and many in fact confuse
them with the Arabs.
We have seen
Sikhs and Sikh organizations in many parts of the world working
overtime to stress their identity, to stress their patriotism, to
loudly hail themselves for their love for America, to proclaim in
the town square how they are as Scottish as any Scot and as English
as any Britisher. Read in this edition of the WSN the write up by
Hardip Singh Kohli for instance.
We say this in
connection with the recent cricket fever in the sub-continent. The
Pakistani cricket captain, Shoaib Malik, after losing the T20 final
to India
"apologized to the Muslims of the world for losing". It was a stupid
thing to say perhaps, but the way the Indian Muslims went into an
overdrive to stress that they did not associate themselves with
Shoaib's comments was pathetic. Why should a whole big community
rush to prove its bonafides the moment one of them makes a comment
not very politically correct?
God forbid the
day any Sikh is found associating with the Al Qaeda, or any Al Qaeda
is found in possession of any book related to the Sikhs. We can't
even fathom the depths to which the detractors of the Sikhs will
plunge to blame the community, but more than that, we can't even
guess the shrillness with which the brave community will rush to
prove that terrorism is not its policy and that Sarbat Da Bhala was
the motto it lived by.
Indian Muslims
leap up and talk about what a twit Shoaib was to have said that. Did
you notice the flurry of articles by eminent Muslims saying the
Indian reality was different and that they associated more with the
men in Blue than the ones who wear green? Shoaib's statement was a
gaffe, a reflection of the stance of the Pakistani mind set, but
where was the dire need for Indian Muslims to distance themselves
from the remark?
All talk about
the common educational system, common politics, and, most of all,
common problems in an open society that pledges equality for all
vanishes the moment Shoaib utters the words. All Muslims are
expected to jump up and underline their patriotism again, just as
Sikhs are expected to re-state their American-ness or their
English-ness or whatever else-ness at every gurpurab, every American,
British, or whatever else-national holiday.
In the new
global world, the Sikhs will have to carve out a clear defined space
of their own. A strong identity. Muslim communalists in India have
delighted in the alienation in some pockets and tried to capitalize
on it. The fact that terror in India has historically been
perpetrated by groups of all descriptions was sought to be subsumed
in one overweening pattern — all the easier for security agencies to
fix blame. This has, in turn, led to a sense of defensiveness among
many Indian Muslims — and the nationalist noises that greeted
Shoaib's statement are of a piece with that mindset. The Sikhs must
learn from this.
Sikhism is not
fixed to any geographical construct. A Sikh in America
can feel as American as anyone next door. Ditto for every other
land. But the mindspace of the community dedicated to the spirit of
the Khalsa should give it more confidence about its own self.
Rushing to prove one’s credentials may not be part of the solution;
it may even be adding to the problem. May be the community should
pore over this aspect.
10 October, 2007
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