Is the quote about Macaulay systematically planning to destroy Indias glorious education and culture false?
Some devotees quote him in the classes, but several sites on the internet claim that the quote has been made up by Hindu nationalists.
What Macaulay never said:
“I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”
What he did say:
“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.”
Here are a couple of sources with the original Parliamentary presentation.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/