PM Modi's call to reverse Macaulay's colonial mindset: All about the British historian and his controversial 200-year-old legacy

PM Modi was speaking during the Sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued an emphatic call to Indians to break free from the “mindset of slavery that Macaulay imposed on India,” setting a 10-year roadmap ahead of the 200th anniversary of the British historian's campaign that "broke the very self-confidence of the country".

Speaking during the Sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi on Monday, the Prime Minister reiterated his clarion call to the nation about breaking the shackles of colonialism and recalled how Macaulay embarked on a campaign to create Indians who would "appear Indian but think like the British".

PM Modi was referring to the introduction of the Macaulay education system in 1835. The document, known as "Macaulay's Minute", laid the foundation for English-medium education in colonial India by advocating for the promotion of Western culture while sidelining traditional Indian education systems.

“Macaulay broke our self-confidence and filled us with a sense of inferiority. He threw our entire way of life into the dustbin in one stroke. That was when the belief took root that Indians must adopt foreign ways to achieve anything. This mindset only strengthened after Independence. The sense of pride in what is ours gradually weakened,” he said.

What is Macaulay Minute?

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) was a British essayist, historian and politician known for his role in shaping India's educational and legal frameworks during British colonial rule. He was appointed as the first Law Member of the Governor-General’s Council in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 and he served until 1838.

In 1835, he released the “Minute on Education” which offered reasons why the East India Company and the British government should spend money on the provision of English language education, as well as the promotion of European learning, especially the sciences, in India.

On March 7, 1835, Governor General William Bentinck agreed with Macaulay's Minute. Bentinck wrote, "the great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India”.  This established a permanent position for the use of English language in Indian educational institutions.

“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern—a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to redefine the vernacular dialects in the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from Western nomenclature," Macaulay said.

According to him, the government had a limited amount of money to spend on education. In his Minute, he questioned if it should extend educational facilities in Sanskrit and Persian, or should it concentrate on English and western education.

He recommended introducing modern education in India and stressed that the subjects taught in England, such as Milton’s poetry, Locke’s metaphysics and Newton’s physics.

Why has Macaulay been part of BJP, RSS speeches?

The BJP and RSS have often termed the education system in the country as a “victim of Macaulay's conspiracy".

Various bodies linked to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) have often said English should be made optional and Sanskrit taught in schools.

The New Education Policy (NEP), which was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2020, reintroduced the three-language formula. The formula encourages students to learn at least three languages, with two being native to India (including a regional language) and the third being English.

In August, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stated that there is "no problem in learning English". Meanwhile, PM Modi has been saying that his government is not opposed to the English language but firmly supports Indian languages.