ABSTRACT
The case of the Sindhis as a linguistic minority in the post-colonial nation–state is fraught with ironies: the only official classification of the Sindhis is that of a ‘linguistic minority’; yet the post-partition generation of Sindhis barely speaks the language. For better or worse, most Sindhis had gravitated to urban parts of India and chosen to stay as members of a linguistic minority in states that offered better business opportunities. Bhai Pratap came up with ingenious methods of luring Sindhis to Gandhidham. In any case, it is not clear except through anecdotal information whether all Sindhis knew about the Gandhidham plan, or whether it had been presented as a viable option. This chapter recounts an episode about how the conflation of the ground realities of language and territory confers a recognisable identity to a common Indian, and the absence of which leads to an ignorance about the existence of such communities.
