“I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore , I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them a truly dominated nation.”
Lord Macaulay’s address to the British parliament, 2 February 1835.
Let us during the new year resolve to fight all factors that are pulling our country backward, all communal forces that divide us, all corrupt people who deprive us of our eligible and all politicians who exploit us. In the New Year let us respect only people and not the money they have.
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Dear Pradeep,
I do not think this quote is correct. Lord Macaulay perhaps had contempt for the education system then prevalent in India and considered the western system much better and wanted to impose the western system on the disorganised, disparate and without standards education that was then prevalent in India. And Macaulay of course thought that the British would have a much more compliant and understanding customer base for British trade with India. But his primary aim was not to completely uproot the 'culture' in India, whatever was thought to be culture in those days.
I would like to have your feed back on this.
In any case, it has been said that the quotation in quotaion is incorrect - it perhaps paraphrases various things that he had said.
Please let me know your comments on this, at my e-mail ram_amigo@hotmail.com.
Incidentally, I am a regular reader of your NRK Sandesham and think that you are doing a good job. Of course, one can never be correct all the time - like when you reported that Mukesh Ambani is now the richest man in the world : I read somewhere that his shareholdings were double counted in error when that report was prepared.
Sincerely
P. Ramachandran
London
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