About 140 million Indians know the English language with varying levels of expertise; some sources peg that figure at 235 million. We could easily defenestrate the colonial mindset without discarding the English language, as many Indians have done and will continue to do. The Indian use of the English language has afforded India global prominence. Macaulay had the temerity to state that a single shelf of English literature was worth more than all of India’s literature — of which he had scant knowledge — put together. The neglect of India’s rich bhashas and literature is serious, and so is the valorising of English literature and language above them.

Source: Indian Express December 22, 2025 07:38 UTC