ABSTRACT
The chapter gives an outline of the sociopolitical atmosphere of the early twentieth-century India, especially the conflict between the colonial discourse which questioned the Indians’ right to self-government and the nationalist discourse that asserted the right of self-government, of Swaraj. The chapter analyzes assertions of Indianized expressions in political speeches delivered by Tilak, Subhas Bose, and C.R. Das in English during the heydays of Indian nationalism. The chapter documents spontaneous inflow of Indian cultural and linguistic elements in political speeches delivered in English, defying colonial cynicism towards Indians’ English. Babu English, the mesolectal variety, was an object of constant surveillance as it consolidated the superiority of the British race (Roy, A., 5), but this chapter shows that political leaders cared little about colonial cynicism; the chapter further documents how the Vedic discourse is gradually substituted by socialist and secular discourses in the nationalist speeches delivered in English in the twentieth century, which shows how diverse elements are incorporated into Indian English nationalist discourse.
