— MOHAN GURUSWAMY —
Not long ago I posted a Youtube short parodying Narendra Modi’s English. There was a furore over it. Posts are sometimes supposed to be funny. Politicians should be objects of fun and ridicule. If some of you people take your Modi’s or others very seriously, dont expect me to humor you. This is my page and I pretty damn well put up whatever I think merits thought or a laugh. If you dont like it too bad. I have the freedom to put up whatever I want, but you dont have the license to get obnoxious on MY page.
And as far as Narendra Modi’s education is concerned, I think people have a right to know whether he went past the 4th or 7th class. Or what exactly is a MA in “Entire Political Science?” What should concern us is why did he have to lie about being formally educated and produce faked degrees? I see no virtue in being formally uneducated or undereducated, particularly when there are so few signs of being self-educated. And dont forget that in 1966, after Lal Bahadur Shastri died, when Kamaraj was asked by senior Congress leaders to become the PM, he just said: “No speak English. No become PM”
Now whether you like it or not, the ability to speak English coherently or read it correctly is an issue. All the three hundred or so files the PM recives everyday are in English. The notings are in English. All the Constitutional authorities he/she deals with, such as the President, the CJI and the Speaker, top officials, the common language is English. This is the reality. Without half decent English you cannot even become a clerk in a bank or man the counter in a fast food chain. Nor can you read a Maruti service manual to be a good car mechanic.
English is the language of government and business in this country. As it is more people in this country now speak, read and write in English than in any other language. That’s why government schools are going abegging. Every second rural school is now owned by an entrepreneur selling English.
By 2050, English will be the first language of 2/3rds of India. English may not be designated as the national language, but it is the defacto official language. It is the only language that is spoken nationwide and now binds us together. No Indian language can replace it. Hindi was once sought to be imposed and we know the consequences. No English, no India! Countries break up over languages. And for those who dont know, modern Hindi was a construct of the East India Company and was meant to supplant Persian.
Then there is the fact that English and Sanskrit are cousin languages belonging to the Indian-European branch deriving from the original Nostratic language originating in the steppes (now in Russia). Which makes English a kind of godmother of the language the colonials concieved in India – Hindi. If you want a truly desi language then you probably have Nihali, our language isolate. Or let’s have a Dravidian language as they did during our Indus Valley civilisation – the closest survivor we have today being Tamil. Or we can have Munda which predates that!
This page is in English. And good language will always be an issue here. If there is a jibe at someone’s English, be it Modi’s or Lalu’s or Sonia’s, take it in good humor. So please can your indignation and reserve it for something else.
