And yet deeper thought will show that English can never and ought not to become the national language of India. What is the test of national language… - Mahatma Gandhi

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And yet deeper thought will show that English can never and ought not to become the national language of India. What is the test of national language? (1) For the official class it should be easy to learn. (2) The religious, commercial and political activity throughout India should be possible in that language. (3) It should be the speech of the majority of the inhabitants of India. (4) For the whole of the country it should be easy to learn. (5) In considering the question, weight ought not to be put upon momentary of short-lived conditions. The English language does not fulfill any of the conditions above-named. […] English cannot become the national language of India. To give it that place is like an attempt to introduce Esperanto. In my opinion, it is unmanly even to think that English can become our national language. The attempt to introduce Esperanto merely betrays ignorance. Then which is the language that satisfies all the five conditions? We shall be obliged to admit that Hindi satisfies all those conditions.