Question: What has India gained by the introduction of the English language?

Sri Chinmoy: England practically destroyed India, true, but England did give a gift to India for which India will remain eternally, eternally, eternally grateful to England and that gift is the English language. The English language is India's matchless treasure. If an Indian in India goes 60 or 80 miles from his home, he may find people who speak his own dialect, but a few words will be different. If he goes 200 miles away, he will not be able to understand anything! Does a Bengali understand even one word of Telegu? Does a Tamil know even one word of Bengali? And even our Bengali language has so many dialects. I come from Chittagong. There are so many words that I use which are not to be found in any Bengali dictionary. Calcutta Bengalis will laugh at our Chittagong dialect! So in that way, the English language has saved us. It has given us a common language to unite us on a national level and, on the international level, it has enabled us to participate in the international community.