You can try what you want, but there’s no escaping English

In recent weeks, disparate events have shown that India takes two steps forward and a few back, so that we may be in the 21st century one moment, and in a bygone era the next. With the Madhya Pradesh government wanting to reserve jobs for locals or the recent AYUSH ministry online meeting where the host insisted on speaking in Hindi, though there were members from many non-Hindi-speaking states, or the National Education Policy 2020 that purports to promote local languages (many see a pro-Hindi hand here) – all these signify the return of a recurring sore. That we’re discussing this, 73 years after Independence, is exasperating. It’s cultural, or linguistic or regional domination, déjà vu. In other words, nativism.

Nativism often has economic underpinnings. Indian budgets since 2015 took many leaves out of what many other countries were doing. They’ve nearly ended the chequered era of globalisation, which may have opened opportunities for some, but widened inequity overall. Many nations, not least the US, have circled their wagons. In 2020, huge parts of the world are integrated with nominal internet, while countries are rooting for their “roots” through language, region, community, nationality. That global connectivity clashes with local subjectivity is one of the key cleavages of our age.

In India, states are due to promulgate the NEP 2020’s imperatives soon. One of them suggests augmenting the mother tongue, while retaining English. This is again a slapdash treatment of both English and the Indian languages. They call for concrete clarity: Neither are we empowering our languages to the extent that individual futures can be predicated on them, nor are we aiming to become an English language paragon, given the edge we have over it compared to other non-English-speaking nations. Some countries in the Far East have risen by beefing up their own languages, while employing English as an ancillary. That mode may not work in India, for we are too diverse, and English is entrenched. The policy worked in China and Japan, for these are more internally similar than India. Even advanced countries not colonised by Britain, like Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian nations, have welcomed English. Why are we funked?

It’s unpopular to say so, but free India is a creation through many acts of the English language. Many of our best minds have prospered due to English education. National policymakers, including the framers of NEP 2020, have seen English’s locus standi in India, to some extent from the vantage of our colonial past. That perception must go. English is our launchpad. Why not draw a plan that makes Indian education in English second to none? Like many non-English-speaking countries, we have moulded English to suit our needs. Indeed, there’s a case for it to be deemed as an Indian language now.

Yes, some of our languages have grown and current knowledge production has adapted to the linguistic audiences in the country, but there’s no escaping English’s reach and scope. This applies across vast spheres: It’s a battle not only for Indians but many non-anglophone countries. If it takes relative advantage of the English language, India could scale up this talent to slacken anglophone hold over vast domains of knowledge. It’s a matter of their future, and especially young Indians need English much more than their mother tongues, for professional growth.

We must stop deluding ourselves on our linguistic traditions – they are deep, rich, and we love them, but they will not help in building a future or provide a means of living for millions of young Indians, yet. They have limited ability to generate meaningful employment. In such a national setting, Hindi’s cultural
predominance is a permanent wedge, for the rest of India. Hindi cannot be in India what Mandarin is in China.

Thomas Macaulay may have been an arrogant imperialist, but his “Minute on Education” in 1835 also explained how English rose to world prominence. English and England had low street-cred in Europe for ages. English grew through imbibing from Greek, Latin and other languages. It developed during the great conflicts of the medieval era just before England became an imperial pioneer. Strife and assimilation mark English’s evolution. These are learnings for Indian languages today.

So, we must rid the nativist reflex from within and not see English and the Indian languages in binary terms. India needs English. Make teaching it attractive. Install learning programmes that remove the fear of English for Indians who are not fluent in it. Make quality English education enter every inch of India. When governance systems flounder, a sense of the past as a romance, is what we get. How sweet, but can we move on?