As per the 2011 census, the percentage of people capable of speaking English in India was 10.67 per cent of the country's total population. https://www.rediff.com/news/column/why-so-much-hatred-for-english/20250721.htm
It puzzles sometimes why much bigger numbers of people, comfortably entrenched in the ecosystems of their language, feel annoyed by India's 10 per cent capable of speaking English.
One reason is that in India, the English-speaking lot is sometimes labelled an elite group because one's knowledge of English, has much to do with the type of school or college one went to and the quality of education received.
Add to it, the perception in the political Right that this club of English-speaking types has a disproportionate role in the criticism the Right-Wing faces periodically despite it parking itself with the majority as defined by religion, community and a settled lifestyle with emphasis on making money.
When I was in school and college, a Western perspective was seen as providing awareness of a larger world and motivating us to shed many of our social shackles.
That has since regressed and it is largely thanks to narratives manufactured to counter what was seen as Western education robbing Indians of the capacity to be proud of their culture and heritage.
The Right-Wing has been active in this regard.
I have felt that the political Right views English through the same prism as it views Communists and individualists (both of who they disapprove of).
I have also felt that the dislike the Right-Wing has for the said two groups is carried on to the English language for its role as purveyor of western ideas / values and the education and perspective it signifies.
21/07/2025