Some weeks back, standing on a public platform somebody shouted that a day is coming in India when people would be ashamed of speaking in English. Today I want to deliberate a little bit on this pronouncement made by none other than someone who is steering the wheels of our country today.
Most historians agree on the fact that the British Empire is the greatest empire in human history. While there had been empires like the Roman Empire and the Mongol Empire that were enormously huge and impactful in history, the British Empire surpasses them all in terms of its sheer size, population and political, cultural and societal impacts.
The British Empire is called “the empire where the sun never sets”. What does this mean? The earth is round and the British Empire was so extensive that when the sun is setting on its eastern side, it is already rising on its western side and vice versa. That’s how widespread the British Empire was and no other empire in human history covered such extensive area of the earth from the east to the west.
About 4-5 centuries ago, European explorers set out to other continents and subjugated people in Asia, North and South America and Africa. The primary motive of the European colonizers was to exploit the resources and people of those continents for their own benefit and make material profit for themselves at the expense of the other so-called backward people. During those centuries the resources and natural assets of these continents were exploited and drained by the European nations to such an extent that these exploited people of Asia, Africa and South America are still struggling today to come to par with their European counterparts.
Now, let us focus our attention to South East Asia where both India and the state of Nagaland are located. The British Empire on which the sun never sets extended from the west to the east covering the whole subcontinent of India in its heyday. To be precise the British ruled over India for exactly 190 years i.e. beginning from the Battle of Plassey (1757) to India’s Independence (1947).
But the Britishers were already on Indian soil much before the Battle of Plassey (1757) with the sole purpose to exploit the land laden with unexploited wealth and resources. The Britishers first came to India as only traders and merchants. The British East India Company was established in 1600 and the company first landed in India in 1608. And from thereon, slowly but steadily, started the economic exploitation of the land and its resources. At first they concentrated only on trade and commerce. But seeing the disunity and infighting between the Indian princely states, the uninvited guests took full advantage of the prevailing situation and gained political foothold which lasted for almost 200 years. The policy of “divide and rule” was flamboyantly used by the Britishers for their own selfish interests.
As mentioned, the Britishers, or for that matter all other European nations like the French, Portuguese and Dutch came to India with the sole purpose to exploit the rich resources of the land. And this intent of the Britishers remained the same from the moment they landed in India in 1608 to the moment Independence was granted to India in 1947. Before they gained political foothold in the country also their primary motive was to drain the resources of the country to its optimum. And after attaining political power, this exploitation of the people and its resources was carried out on a much larger unimaginable scale with the backing of the British Crown.
But while it is undeniable that the Britishers did everything here in South East Asia for their own selfish interest to enrich their own treasury at the expense of the natives, many of the projects, missions and endeavors which they carried out here ultimately went on to benefit the locals in unbelievable ways.
Here, we may cite the example of the railways which was introduced in India by the Britishers. The Britishers introduced the railways not to better the lives of the Indians but so that they could travel to different corners of the land and better exploit its wealth and resources. But ultimately the railways turned out to be a great unifying force in India as it went on to unite the whole subcontinent both geographically and politically and ushered in the sense and feeling of unity and oneness amongst the people.
Before the advent of the Britishers, the Indians knew only how to cultivate crops like wheat and rice. But the Britishers introduced a large number of commercial crops such as tea, coffee, indigo, opium, cotton, jute, sugarcane and oilseed. The soil and the climate of India were conducive for the cultivation of these crops. But here also the British did not introduce these crops to benefit or enrich the lives of the natives but solely to make profit for themselves by exporting the items for the international market. But in this case also, the introduction of these crops went on to greatly benefit the people of the country and even today India is ranked amongst the top producers and exporters of these commercial crops. So here again the Britishers did it for their own interest but we are reaping the benefits even today.
Moreover, inadvertently but undeniably, Indians received training to work with representative legislative institutions under the British rule because the Britishers were the masters and originators of this form of government.
So, we all hate and condemn colonial rule for its evil motives and exploitative nature. But we also cannot deny that British colonial rule has inadvertently blessed us with many benefits and advantages without which the people of South East Asia may not be where they are today.
And one such inadvertent benefit of the British rule is the English language. Of course, here also, the Britishers did not introduce English in South East Asia with the motive to make us equal partners and stakeholders. The Britishers introduced English for their own administrative convenience so that they could rule India more efficiently and exploit its people and resources to the fullest which had been their primary motive from the start till the end.
The Britishers introduced English because they needed English educated clerks who could carry out their official works with lesser pay and lesser maintenance expenses because to bring in people from Europe for clerical works would entail huge expenses. Moreover, they also needed a lingua-franca to communicate with the locals and here also, teaching English to the natives must have appeared a much more viable option than to learn the native languages themselves. And again, English being a global and advanced language, the Britishers must have naturally looked down on the natives’ vernaculars. Moreover, wherever the British Empire went, zealous missionaries who were hell-bent upon spreading the gospel also went and wherever these missionaries went the English language also went along.
So the intent of the Britishers in introducing the English language here in the Indian subcontinent might have been selfish and non-benevolent. But ultimately it has gone on to benefit us greatly. It was the English language which introduced us to the enlightened world of the west. It was the English language which introduced us to western philosophies and western education and acquainted us with modern systems of government like democracy and legislative representations. It also opened our eyes to many social evils, blind faith, superstitions and unfounded practices that were crippling our lives. And yes, it was also through the English language that the Nagas got acquainted with the gospel.
Then can we consider the English language as a gift of the Britishers? The answer is a resounding “NO”. A gift is something which someone intentionally gives to another person as a token of appreciation or gratitude or to mark a certain occasion or to make someone feel special, happy or respected. But we all know that the British did not introduce English in India with that intent. But though the British introduced English for its own personal agenda and ulterior motives, it has eventually turned out to be a boon for us.
In the light of all these facts, today if someone is saying that communicating in English would become a shame or disgrace, it is just pure rhetoric and propaganda as it does not make any sense to our logical thinking and it depicts a scenario where someone is just enacting a drama on public platform just to galvanize a certain community or to attract media attention. Of course, we all hate the spirit of colonialism where the advanced nations of the world went out and subjugated and exploited the naïve and unsuspecting natives for their own selfish interests. But that is history and we cannot rewrite history. The ultimate truth in our situation is, “English is here to stay.”
