How English survived in India

Here's an out of the box opinion by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar in The Economic Times and Times of India.

To give one, a gist of it--Aiyar says, if today India can boast a strong English speaking population, a BPO wave, then give the damn credit to regional chieftains who opposed tooth and nail the move to position Hindi as the official language and shove English down the rung.

While criticising rabid Hindi imperialist leaders including Vajpayee, Aiyar adds, local Chieftains like Annadurai (TamilNadu) denounced the move to abolish English, as brazen Hindi imperialism.

However, he is quick to clarify that Annadurai was a champion of Tamil, not English, and whatever happened thereafter ( peaking of English speaking population) was not intended then.

As a matter of personal pride, my ancestor, who was also a textile baron with interests in banking, insurance, cotton and education actually led the Hindi agitation at Madurai. While a large part of my extended family still survives on the enormous wealth he created, we still agree his and our proudest moment was when he courted arrest leading the movement. But to give the man his due, he was not just a champion of Tamil, his children were proficient in Hindi and English as well.