 "The plaid truth about Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf")
When Humza Yousaf was sworn in for the first time as MSP (member of the Scottish Parliament) for Glasgow Pollok from the Scottish Nationalist Party in 2011, he wore a red shoulder plaid (of the Partick Thistle football club) over a silver-embroidered black sherwani and a kilt. In 2016 he took the oath (in Urdu and English) in a short, gold-trimmed black half-sherwani-type jacket over a kilt in line with his Pakistani-British ‘bhangra-and-bagpipes’ heritage.
But at his swearing-in this week as First Minister — effectively the person running Scotland now — the 37-year-old chose an all-black sherwani with narrow trousers or pajamas in the same colour rather than the classic white shalwar favoured in Pakistan. It was a brave move: the equivalent of Rishi Sunak or Leo Varadkar being sworn in wearing dhoti-kurtas or Kamala Harris in a Kanjeevaram saree. It was a vivid reminder of identity in an increasingly blurry world.
What was Yousaf trying to communicate, six years ago and now? Back then, it was definitely an assertion that kilts are Scottish but not the exclusive preserve of the traditional (white) Christian clans anymore. It was a point well made. And the first Sikh member of the Scottish Parliament, Pam Gosal, also underscored that in 2021 when she took oath as Conservative Party MSP for West Scotland wearing a lavender tartan saree, after reciting the Mool Mantar.
The Scots are a canny lot, proved by their marketing of traditional products like whisky, tweed and cashmere. It is not surprising then, that creating new tartan patterns is now guaranteed by an act of Parliament, which has even set up a Scottish Register of Tartans in 2008. Anyone can get a unique tartan designed and registered in their name(s) and can also restrict others from appropriating and wearing their specific check pattern too, if they wish to do so.
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More ShortsIt is unclear whether Yousaf has got himself a family tartan but he can certainly take a cue from an entry in that register from May 2016 for a plaid designed by Brian Wilton. It says that the design was “created by Jaswinder Hans to mark 50 years since the arrival of the family in UK in 1968 and based on the Royal Stewart tartan — a very familiar sight in Indian military circles during the life of his father Hazara who served in the Bombay Light Infantry (aka Sappers).”
It notes the tartan has “two pink lines for Jas and Amrita’s two daughters bordered by 60 threads of green which celebrates his 60th birthday in 2018. Overall, the colours include those of the Sikh religion, Bombay Sappers, Indian flag and the Union Jack. The other focal point is the incorporation of the ribbon representing the British War Medal awarded to Hans Senior during WW2. Can be worn by any descendant or relative of Dhan Kaur and Hazara Singh Hans.”
An entry in the register from 2019 describes a deep blue and green tartan for the exclusive use of the family of Baljit Singh Chadha who had it created “in honour of his son Harkeet Singh Chadha’s graduation from Aberdeen University”. And one deep blue tartan that was created in 1999 — before the registrations began — for “Sirdar Iqbal Singh of Lesmahagow (south of Glasgow)” has the information that it can be worn by any Asians with Scottish connections.
Interestingly, a tartan was registered in 2012 as ‘Scottish Islamic’ which “weaves together different strands of Scottish and Muslim heritage”; there are photos of Yousaf in a tie with that plaid. The register notes that “blue represents the Scottish Flag; green represents the colour of Islam; five white lines running through the pattern represent the five pillars of Islam; six gold lines represent the six articles of faith; the black square represents the Holy Kaaba.”
There is a ‘Spirit of India’ tartan too, and one called ‘Spirit of Pakistan’, both designed and registered by David McGill over a decade ago. The latter, according to the register noting “combines the colours of the flags of Pakistan and Scotland. The darker green and white represent the colours of the flag of Pakistan and the lighter green the favourite colour of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him). The blue and white represent the Scottish Saltire” (flag).
That a single piece of Scottish fabric can convey a host of connections via criss-crossing bands of colour is amazing in itself. The opportunity it offers for immigrant families of all stripes — so to speak — to incorporate their diverse stories literally into the warp and weft of Scotland is also obvious. If there can be a tartan for Clan Hans, why not for Clan Gosal or indeed Clan Yousaf, as he is the first Asian (and therefore non-ethnic-Scottish) First Minister.
Yousaf’s choice of attire when taking the oath as Scotland’s new supreme leader is less easy to deconstruct. Had he worn a plaid sherwani — the Pakistani equivalent of Gosal’s tartan saree — the message could be comfortably deemed to be the same. But he chose a rather more conservative, non-quirky version of the long, buttoned black coat with an all-over embroidered pattern in the same colour, whose motifs looked faintly thistle-ish, but not quite Scottish.
That there was no nod to traditional Scotland in Yousaf’s attire in 2023 is curious, given that he has always been seen in plaid — kilts and/or ties — at the right places. In the family line-up at the steps of his new official residence at Bute House, though, there was nary a tartan to be seen, though photos taken indoors during Ramzan prayers and iftar shows his father Muzaffar Yousaf in a plaid tie, and a couple of fellow worshippers in what seem to be tartan trousers.
There are no distinctively British or even English articles of clothing comparable to Scotland’s plaid kilts — unless the colourful costumes of Morris dancers or the various red uniforms of the Yeomen and Guardsmen can be classified as ‘ethnic English’. But no ‘English’ politician would want to appear in any of those outfits — or even in long morning suits with waistcoats and top hats like at Royal Ascot or weddings. So, arguably, Sunak has it easier than Yousaf.
“Scottish” Yousaf and “English” Sunak are both of Punjabi descent — in fact the maternal grandparents of both men hail from Ludhiana in India. But the latter has remained more circumspect in his official sartorial choices. Barring the red threads on his right wrist, Sunak is always kitted out in conventional “British” gear with nary a (Canadian PM) Justin Trudeau-type foray into ‘ethnic Indian’ attire on duty, Diwali diyas at 10 Downing St notwithstanding.
But could Yousaf’s no-tartan message be more plaidly political? Minorities in Scotland have been demanding definitive action against racism, starting with junking stereotypes. And what could be more ‘stereotypically’ Scottish than tartan? (Drinking Scotch has so far escaped that black label.) So the new First Minister may have taken a stand in his black sherwani: No plaids please, we are Scottish anyway. Will he rejig his ‘bhangra-with-bagpipes’ heritage too?
The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed are personal.
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