Perfect Colony – as per Macaulay’s Minute

Curse of colonialism does not lie in how many natives are killed by the colonialists. Not even in how many natives are picked up and transported as slaves to some other geography. Curse of colonialism is that the natives forget themselves after a period of time under the foreign rule. They start believing that everything foreign is good, everything own is bad. They start imitating others, try to follow other’s moral concepts, strive to implement the business rules practiced somewhere else, attempt to adopt industrial policies grown up in different environment,  shape their spirituality as directed by the colonialist master,  struggle to become someone else.

So Indians want to become as “Civilized” as British, “Strong” like Germans, “Cultured” like French, “Aggressive” like Spanish, “Innovative” like Americans, “Persistent” like Japanese, “Determined” like Chinese; not anything like Indian. “Perfection” becomes keyword of life, not self-development.

After a colony is “perfectly” colonized, natives borrow the viewpoint of people from other geographies to analyze their own history and culture. Next step is - manipulating and polishing every aspect of own cultural existence to fit other’s taste. Native language has to be polished so that it suits the standard of other’s language; cloths and looks have to be designed such a way that other people feel it comfortable, food habits need to be developed such a way that others find it healthy, literary or artistic activities are considered successful only when it receives foreign appreciation, foreign university degrees are not only needed for industrial, technological, educational or social developments, but also to determine how great native freedom fighters were. Colonies learn “inclusiveness” in a new light; it is not the concept of inclusiveness developed through thousands of years, but the way “inclusiveness” is taught by the “Gods” – all born in some other Geography. Localization becomes a tool to fit native language into foreign ideas.  

Lord Macaulay knew this long before – at least as early as in 1835. (I would love to highlight some “important points” in the famous Macaulay’s Minutes for the convenience of readers -  http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html ). 

Hence, British colonialists could ensure that after 200 years, even native Bengali popular newspaper would invite “educationists” from acclaimed foreign universities to announce how “inclusive” a patriot their own Subhash Bose was. Other Europeans, who tried to establish colonies here, probably lost the race because of lack of such a full-proof planning. The following lines of Macaulay’s minutes show us how far-reaching the colonialist vision was: “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 tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”

There is a large controversy on how responsible Lord Macaulay was for the widespread popularity of Anglicism in India. He commented against the preaching of Christianity while Charles Grant, the East India Company official preached that the introduction of Western education and Christianity would be necessary to transform a morally corrupt society (Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain, 1792) four decades prior to him. Secondly, it is obvious that Macaulay representing the ruling class might be only an equivalent to a strategic management person of a global enterprise of 21st century. He might have studied and influenced by Grant’s observations while writing his minutes. His vision was supported by Indian intellectuals (among them, Rammohun Roy, the social reformer of 18th century Bengal was a prominent name) of that period who found English education an opportunity to align India with the technologically advanced world. Natives in Kolkata and Madras showed enthusiastic interest in English education – establishment of Hindu college and English schools in Madras are good evidence for this. Thirdly, the introduction of English education came in a package with prohibition of widow burning (Satidaha), female infanticide, child sacrifice in Gangasagar and elimination of thugs, dacoits and pirates in different parts of the country, establishing the humanitarian nature of the colonialist rule. Especially in Bengal, common people were suffering from Siraj-ud-daulah’s ’s tyrannical rule and torture by Wargi (Maharastrian invaders) for a long time before; naturally they embraced British gun-users and their education as friendly saviors. Also true that Charles Trevelyan, appointed by the Governor-General Lord Bentinck to formalize a suitable education policy for the newly acquired colony, had prepared the ground fairly before Macaulay prepared his minutes. Cost cutting was another big headache of East India Company for which they needed to reduce the number of English expats here and replace them with natives. Once British started expanding colonies, there remained practically no option - nor for them, neither for their subjects – to stay away from the planned implementation of their ideas.

Hence, we can safely say that, when the foundation of Anglican education was already built on Indian soil, Macaulay’s Minutes appeared to be a “perfect tool” to justify the imperial colonialist standpoint. And 21^st century India shows how great a visionary he was…..