Pathan, the moulvi’s son, has never needed to wear his faith on his sleeve. But, despite that, he has found his faith playing a larger-than-life role in his life. His surviving the 2002 Gujarat pogrom has been the cause of wondrous relief. But it was sheer good luck that he did; and the fact that he went on to become one of India’s icons made no difference to those who ruled his home state. To them he was just another of them. That’s the reason why, when every member of the victorious Twenty20 team received cash awards from his home state, Irfan and his brother Yusuf received nothing from their chief minister, until TV channels went on and on about their exclusion. Days later, when the local MLA came over with a personal cheque of Rs 1,11,111 — the Pathans must have felt like showing him the door, but etiquette demanded that they accept it. So you had the photograph of their father bowing to accept the belated and grudging recognition of his sons’ achievements.

Ironically, it was during those very days that the Pathans had to proclaim from the rooftops that they were Indians first and Muslims, second.

Pakistani Captain Shoaib Malik’s remark thanking Muslims all over the world for praying for Pakistan’s victory couldn’t go unchallenged; and who better to refute it than our Pathan brothers, who had played no small role in defeating Pakistan? The tragedy is that while they very ably dismissed the Pakistani captain’s attempt to link of sports with religious identity, the Pathans could not afford to point out that their very own CM had been unable to delink the two.

How do the movers and shakers who call Narendra Modi the symbol of Gujarat’s pride and identity — India’s best CM and potential prime minister — view Irfan Pathan? If they rate him among India’s best sportsmen, how do they explain their praise of Modi, who has demonstrated that he regards Pathan as nothing but a Muslim? Forget the others; how can Navjot Singh Sidhu, identified with cricket, declare that every Gujarati wants his child to be a Modi? The recent election campaign revealed that Modi’s distorted view of Pathan isn’t unique to him. The MLA who gave the Pathans a cash award was reviled in pamphlets for doing so.

Now Irfan Pathan is off to Australia to play his heart out for his country, and Modi could be back as CM for a third time. Such, indeed, is life.