OPINION POLL
Have Sindhis in politics done enough for the community? If not, what do you feel should be done?
1 Shoba Chandiramani 03 July 07:34
No, Sindhis have not done anything. They have not even maintained their own culture. When they have a function they either ape Hindi movie songs or they do a western style party...they are only interested in making money not in being a cohesive, collective force to accomplish an objective...When I attend a Sindhi function, I notice that the business leaders do not even speak Sindhi properly - so how can they lead? I wish one leader would rise such as Mahatma Gandhi or somebody like that who would work toward getting us our own State in India, even if they have to take a small piece of somebody’s else’s state and give it to us.
2 Jiye Sindh 04 July 19:36
Sindhi politicians, in and outside Sindh, have failed the Sindhi nation i.e - Sindh & the Sindhis. Sindhis must disacknowledge Pakistan, they must realise that Sindh under Pakistan will kill Sindh in the sense of Sindhi culture, heritage and people. Sindhis, young or old, especially outside of Sindh must be aware that they have their own nation, which is being colonised by Pakistan. Sindh, under Pakistan, is the biggest contributor of taxes to Islamabad. What is done with the money, which is derived from the riches of our motherland? It is used to sponsor terrorism, to kill innocent civillians so much so that even 2-month-old babies are not spared. Let us wake up, Sindhudesh. Why let a 10000-year-old civilisation be destroyed in less than 100 years? Do not let us Sindhis end up like the Red Indians of America or the Aborigines of Australia; disfranchised in their own land. Jiye Sindhudesh!
3 Brig Manohar Bhambhani 08 July 21:59
Firstly there are very few Sindhis in active politics. Reasons are not far to seek. For elections we need votes and our own votes are very few, hence the candidate requires support of other communities. Politics are now becoming communalised; hence that route will not take our candidates far. Then Sindhi candidates may have to align with and be identified with, a party and then come up. Finest example is our Deputy Prime Minister, Shri L K Advani. People feel he has done hardly any thing for Sindhis, how could he do it openely. He has identified himself with Ahemdabad , Gujratis , who are half Sindhis, and with BJP. Having come up the ladder he can and I am sure he will do a lot for the community overtly as well as covertly. Now coming to new comers. For them best way is to go into areas where we have substantial numbers. For example Ulhas nagar. We have the famous Kalani. Some thing has gone wrong somewhere, but he has done well by a lot of Sindhis. Of course some may not like him due to their own alignments. The point that is being made is that where-ever possible our Politians have done well for the community and through your site you can push them into doing more. Regards Bhambhani.
What holds back Sindhis from communicating amongst themselves in the Sindhi language, when Maharashtrians, Gujaratis, etc. never hesitate to do so?
1 Divyayes, 09 Aug 08:11
We rarely speak in Sindhi nowadays, not only with our relatives/sindhi friends & contacts but also with our own parents. Now if we, elders ourselves don’t speak in our own mother tongue, how can we expect our children to speak or know about Sindhi? Today’s young Sindhi parents are often heard (unfortunately) proudly declaring that their children can’t speak/understand Sindhi. The reason lies in the many upheaveals faced by the Sindhi community.We never had any one permanent place which one could say is Sindhbad/Sindhu Nagar, etc. which could be identified as primarily Sindhi area. We always have lived the lives of the Gypsies, and always absorbed the lifestyles and the habits of the host state / country. With the frequent displacements, we have been always been mostly under the foreign influence(necessarily). Today’s Sindhi doesn’t only not speak his mother tongue, but he doesn’t even know about the traditions/ festivals of the Sindhi community. Then whatever we could expect to learn from our elders also becomes less possible because of the current system of the unit families , where one almost never sees an elder in the family to pass on the traditions. In each state of India the local language is taught as compulsory second / third language, but where is Sindhurashtra /Sindhudesh, etc. in India, where one has the Sindhi language in the curriculum.?
2 A.G.Raisinghani, 10 Aug 11:39
Sindhis do not speak in their mother tongue because the sense of belonging to the community is missing. Nothing has been done from the days of partition to create their identity. I fail to understand that during partition when all the states were divided equally between India and Pakistan then why not Sindh. It has been a failure on part of the sindhi leadership by not having been able to create their own land. What is missing is the drive among all sindhis to do something about the community even though their are so many successful sindhi businessman all over the world. When no elder or leader is found patronising the sindhi community then how do you expect the youngsters to have a fondness about their language. As such there is no Government who will welcome any sindhi educated child and reserve jobs for them. What we need is a concentrated effort by all parents to atleast make speaking in Sindhi a part of their daily lives even if that does not help them in any part of the world to secure a career today but continuous efforts of all sindhis would definitely lead to a situation when learning sindhi language would be a definite advantage like learning French or other languages today.
Do you prefer that your children marry within the Sindhi Community?
Poll Results – 74% yes; 18% no; 8% can’t say
Would you attempt to learn to read and write Sindhi in the Arabic script if a programme is developed on the net?
Poll Results – 82% yes; 12% no; 6% can’t say