English and Shah's Sham

From X

Amit Shah turned a prophet recently. A day will come when those who speak English in India will feel ashamed, he prophesied. It’s high time his son felt ashamed of his English which is quite hilarious to say the least. But let’s look at more honourable right-wingers and their children. Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister, speaks chaste English, and her daughter studied in London School of Economics like the mother. Will they have to be ashamed too?

What about Smriti Irani whose communication is heavily English-oriented? Maneka Gandhi is another fan of Amit Shah’s cultural nationalism though she sent her son Varun Gandhi to London School of Economics as well as Oxford. Ravi Shankar Prasad’s daughter, Aditi Prasad, also studied in the UK. The daughters of Subramanian Swamy studied and worked in Harvard and other top US institutions. Shouldn’t they all feel ashamed first?

There’s an excess of hypocrisy about the whole bandwagon of BJP’s cultural nationalism. Mr Modi himself uses a lot of foreign goods while renouncing anything un-Indian in his eloquent speeches to Hindi-speaking rural Indians. Vocal for local is only a local slogan, bhai, coined by one whose personal picks are all global.

Bvlgari (Italian) designer sunglasses, Montblanc (German) pen, Movado & Apple Watches (Swiss/USA), iPhone, footwear from various countries, Boeing Aircraft, premium personal care products, BMW… Well, our local-vocal PM has them all. And more. Even his famous Modi jacket has Chinese tailoring roots. Amit Shah’s advice to Indians to renounce English is not unlike Modi’s advice to go local.

Why do people like Shah and Modi behave like ultimate buffoons with such statements?

Their cultural nationalism, like everything else about them, is a mere political ploy to hoodwink the less enlightened people of India. The kind of statement about the shame of speaking English resonates strongly with BJP’s core voter base: North Indian rural and semi-urban regions, particularly, where English is still seen as elitist, local languages are tied to pride and identity, and there’s resentment toward the English-speaking liberal elite classes.

“The elite succeeded by mastering English; the masses will succeed by reclaiming their roots.” That is the narrative which wins votes for BJP.

There’s more. This sort of statement is a good diversion tactic. Provocative cultural statements are used by various governments in all periods of history for diverting people’s attention from serious issues such as inflation, unemployment, social unrest, and policy failures. Shah is as good as Modi in shifting debates from economics to emotions.

The ulterior motive of promoting Hindi over regional languages is also at play here. In the name of decolonising and de-anglicising the Indian mind, Hindi is being rammed down the throats of the citizens one way or another.

The whole enterprise is absolute sham. Just like Modiji’s grand laughs abroad.