Indian-origin Britons happily failing the ‘Tebbit test’ yet again

When England plays India, which team do Britons of Indian origin support, or should side should they support?

That is the challenge known as the “Tebbit test”, credited to the veteran Tory politician Norman Tebbit, who proposed it in 1990 as a test of loyalty of immigrants, suggesting that those who moved to England should not support India or other countries from where their parents migrated.

But thousands of immigrant Britons happily fail the test, witnessed again during the recently concluded Edgbaston test match, where those who migrated from India have been celebrating their new hero Virat Kohli, to the accompaniment of ‘dhol’ and proudly wearing the Indian Tricolour — even if some of them have never been to India.

Colonial history, race and identity politics have always mixed with passion when India play England, but cricket encounters become occasions to rehearse the Indian roots of generations that mostly celebrate their dual British and Indian identities, even if some are not always at ease with the tension.

“It shows more confidence in the Indian community of their roots. When I came here nearly 50 years ago, India was a country of poverty, it needed British aid, there was a colonial hangover and memories of the Raj lingered,” says sports writer Mihir Bose.

Since April 1990, when Tebbit proposed his challenge, the test has become a benchmark to talk – even if light-heartedly – about race and identity politics in multicultural Britain. The situation becomes complex when cricketers of Indian origin such as Ravi Bopara and Monty Panesar turn out for England against India. For example, Bopara was barracked as a “gaddar” (traitor) during the 2013 India-England Champions Trophy final in Edgbaston.