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Tuesday, Apr 21, 2009
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Amartya Sen warns against banning English

Hasan Suroor

Amartya Sen

LONDON: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Monday warned that any attempt to ban English in Uttar Pradesh would be divisive and further exclude the “non-English speaking have-nots” from the national mainstream.

Reacting to Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh’s controversial “angrezi hatao” campaign, Professor Sen said it would have “exactly the opposite effect” of what Mr. Singh intended, with the non-English speaking people becoming more isolated.

“So rather than being an egalitarian force, the exclusion — if it is carried out — will have exactly the opposite effect: that is to keep the stratification as it is. Because obviously Mulayam Singh will not be able to prevent people from doing English in India as the language of commerce, industry, rule of law and public use,” Professor Sen said at the opening of the London Book Fair, which has an India focus this year. He sounded puzzled as to what Mr. Singh had in mind.

“I don’t really see what the problem is about because it’s a language that’s widely used,” Professor Sen said, recalling the experience of West Bengal where a similar attempt in the 1970s backfired.

“In the late 70s there was an attempt by the Communists to de-emphasise English and move towards a Bengali-based education, but that’s all been entirely reversed for the simple practical reason that the children didn’t want it and the parents didn’t want it,” he said.

Professor Sen, who is Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, pointed out that English had effectively become an Indian language.

“An Indian language would be that which is in use in India and English language has been in use for quite a long time,” he said.

Making a series of high-profile appearances at the fair, including a conversation with Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Professor Sen said it was a “marvellous way of getting people together”.

“I am greatly looking forward to learning about things I do not know and things I do know but do not quite understand,” he said.

A large delegation of Indian writers, publishers and academics has been flown in to take part in the three-day fair, regarded as the second most important book event in Europe after the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Vikram Seth, Amit Chaudhuri, Anita Nair, K. Satchidanandan, Javed Akhtar and Ramchandra Guha are among the 50 Indian writers attending the fair.

Lord Kinnock, Chair of the British Council, which is one of the sponsors of the Fair, described it as “the biggest festival of Indian literature ever outside the sub-continent.” Alistair Burtenshaw, director of the fair, said the market focus on India was aimed at taking a fresh look at the commercial opportunities that India offered.

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