The defeat of English is the defeat of Amateur Indians

The world of India's new masters in politics, media and business is not framed in English

- MANU JOSEPH

A few weeks ago, Home Minister Amit Shah said at the launch of a book of Hindi poems, "In our lifetime, we will see a society in which those speaking English will feel ashamed..." He also said, "A complete India cannot be imagined through half-baked foreign languages." Later, facing some sort of lament from political opponents, he said that he is not against "foreign languages." About the shame bit, he has a point.

I do not believe English is a 'foreign' language anymore in India. Apart from all the obvious reasons, Bollywood operates mostly in English; not only are most screenplays in English, the Hindi dialogues too are written in the Roman script. Very few stars can read Hindi or read it fast. Most people who read this column may not be able to read their mother tongue. I can't either. This could and should bloom into shame.