Should India recognise the accomplished Romani people as a national minority?

If India takes up the suggestion of the World Roma Organization president Jovan Damjanovic to recognise the Romani people — better known as Gypsies — as a ‘national minority’, it could certainly make the list of celebrity Persons of Indian Origin quite dazzling. From Charlie Chaplin to Elvis Presley, Ilie Nastase to Rita Hayworth, Pablo Picasso to Tracey Emin, the roll call of people of Romani origin will ensure that there is scarcely a milestone or accolade that India cannot lay claim to. Quite legitimately too, as there is now plenty of evidence, DNA and linguistic, to substantiate the popular belief that the ‘travellers’ (another politically acceptable term these days) actually wandered over to Europe from northern India sometime over the last thousand years.

However, what any Indian acknowledgement of ethnicity might entail will be crucial. Will the Romani — around 12 million worldwide — want to effect a ghar wapsi to India, especially given Europe’s current anxieties about people on the move? That may be tricky given the current rules governing PIO and OCI eligibility. Or will they simply want to finally be able to call some country (even a notional) home? Their inclusion, of course, would make a hefty addition to the NRI ranks, further increasing the number of those who can congregate to cheer the advent of Indian leaders aboard.