Conspiracy against English
Bangalore: Language is the vehicle of power and prestige. Rulers use the language to rule. And in India, the language of the rulers is English. They tell the ruled not to learn English but hate it as “it is the language of the British imperialists”.
LANGUAGE OF DOGS & CATS
The anti-English lobby is aided and abetted by the ruling upper castes who have created an impression among the over 85% of the oppressed Bahujan Samaj that their respective mother- tongue is the greatest language on earth.
In Karnataka, the Kannadiga slaves are told to “eat in Kannada, sleep in Kannada and die in Kannada”.
But those who give such magnificent lectures know not a word of Kannada. Even with their cats and dogs they talk in English. Such is the ruling upper caste conspiracy against English that it is kept as a close preserve of this exclusive class of less than 5%.
DEFEAT OF CPM IN CALCUTTA
Hindutva forces have given up their claim to enforce Hindi as the language of the Govt. of India because they know they cannot rule India if they stick to their language fanaticism. Because India’s ruling class loves English. The power of the English is so much that in the latest Parliament elections, the ruling
CPM (marxist party) lost heavily in Calcutta city because it switched over to Bengali as the medium of instruction in schools. The ruling upper castes wanted English and voted against the CPM which is now forced to revise its order. This is the power of language.
Under review is a book, Problematizing English in India, by R.K. Agnihotri, Professor of Lingustics, Delhi University, and co-authored by A.L. Khanna, Reader in English, Rajadhani College, Delhi University (1997 pp.200 Rs.276, Sage M/ 32, Greater Kailash, Market-I, New Delhi-110 028).
BABASAHEB ADVOCATED ENGLISH
In the Dalit Voice of Nov. 16, 1997 (p.17), we had published a speech of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar pleading for English. “Retain English at any cost. Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy too pleaded for English and de- scribed India’s most ancient and richest language of Tamil as a katimirandi (barbarian) language. The book under review is the result of a survey and 75% of the people Interviewed wanted English as the medium of instruction and de- scribed English as India’s “nation- al” language.
The country-wide survey says English alone can bring power, opportunity and status.
ONLY 3% KNOW ENGLISH
There is no reliable estimate of people knowing English (reading, writing and speaking) but it is negligible – may be within 3%. And these 3% form the apex of the ruling class who are none other than the
Aryans (upper castes). And these Aryans are using English to keep the Bahujans enslaved. But English schools are mushrooming everywhere. And English schools are not only expensive but a symbol of prestige for parents. They are deliberately kept expensive and exclusive to see that the Bahujans are kept out. There is great demand for English medium and such schools are minting money.
Language schools are not only languishing but utterly neglected. If you know only an Indian language, but not English, you can get the post of only a peon.
UNWANTED HINDI
And yet India’s ruling class, which sends its children only to English schools, is forcing Hindi and other language medium on “others” fearing that these “others” may become rulers if the “others” learn English. This is these story of English imperialism. The book concludes:
Most people strongly insist that the mother tongue of a child should be the medium of instruction in primary education. There is absolutely no doubt that the levels of cognitive complexity a child can negotiate in his/her own language cannot be matched by a language which is not a part of the active repertoire of the speech community to which the child belongs. Our study has also shown that English could be introduced as a subject at a fairly early stage.
