English in India, a language that has earned its place

What makes a language Indian? A recent observation by the Supreme Court of India has revived the debate over whether English can be considered an indigenous language of India. The debate over the place of English in India has often been framed as a contest between English and Indian languages. Such a binary is both historically misleading and politically unhelpful. The promotion of Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Kannada, or Marathi need not — and should not — be predicated upon denying recognition or patronage to English. The future of India’s linguistic diversity lies not in choosing one language over another but in nurturing multilingualism. English may not be an indigenous language in the same historical sense as Sanskrit or Tamil, yet, over two centuries, has acquired a legitimate claim to belong to India.