Introduction

Abstract

The Anglo-Indians are one of the recognized minorities of India. The development of a distinct community identity surely took many years, however, once forged, this distinct identity of being an Anglo-Indian congealed and persisted. This process was further aided by the frequently partisan attitude of the colonial administration towards the community. The Anglo-Indian community grew rapidly in numbers, wealth and power in the early nineteenth century. Educated in private schools, articulate in English and the ways and customs of the English, they became indispensable to the Company’s service. Accordingly, we find phases of development of the community in India. These phases can be defined broadly as follows: (1) the emergence and early evolution of the community, (2) its sustenance and growth as a community throughout British rule (3) and its resilience in post-1947 India. The community had assiduously nurtured some identifiable characteristics throughout British rule—English as mother tongue, a community-targeted educational system, a cultural tradition akin to the ‘Western’ mode of life and religious affiliation to Christianity. The Anglo-Indians born before independence could not come to terms with the remoteness they faced vis-à-vis other Indian communities, especially the Indian Christians and, in cases of intermarriage, with Hindus and Muslims. The other Indian communities had also built an impenetrable wall of prejudice and rejection around the Anglo-Indians, coining such pejorative labels as the ‘Anglos’. So the two generations studied here—one born before independence and the other born after independence—were socialized in an Anglo-Indian culture in which their skin colour was a matter of concern, their connection with their male European progenitor was important, their knowledge and understanding of European ways of life determined their status and, above all, their identity as Anglo-Indians was paramount. Similarly, their knowledge about India was confined to books read in school; and knowledge of other cultures and languages was not important even though it was thought to be functionally helpful to surviving in India. It was important to remain strictly confined within the boundary of one’s own culture and tradition because any transgression might involve being subject to discrimination. Such fears of ethnic and racial prejudice and discrimination kept Anglo-Indians within the boundary of ‘we’; the domain of ‘them’ was consciously separated from that of ‘us’. The Anglo-Indian community of India has survived over a long period of time with its marginal identity and ethnic minority status. This will be clear if we study its birth as a community. The community is recognized as a part of the multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-religious and plural Indian identity as established by the Constitution [Article 366(2)]. The Anglo-Indians are those—

• (a) Whose mother tongue is English.

• (b) Whose father or any of whose progenitors in the male line is/was of European descent.

• (c) Who is domiciled within the territory of India and is/was born within such territory of parents who are/were permanently resident therein as defined in the Part II of the Constitution of India or any other amendment thereto [Citizenship Act No.: LV11 of 1955].

This definition excludes—

• (a) Children of Anglo-Indian women who have married outside the community.

• (b) Children of Anglo-Indian parents who have migrated permanently from India.

• (c) Children born to parents where the only the mother or anyone from the mother’s line is or was a European.

Evolution of the CommunityThe first example of a mixed racial community in India may be traced back to the Portuguese colonial enterprise, which was followed by other European colonial enterprises such as the Dutch, the French and, most importantly, the English. As British women were not allowed to participate in the colonial venture and travel abroad, British soldiers and officials were cut off from their society. As a result, they married the Luso-Indians or women of Portuguese descent. Thus the Indo-Portuguese-British community emerged. Over the period 1600 to 1773, many Eurasians either emigrated to South Asia or merged into the European or the Indian communities. However, some remained as Eurasians. This remainder did not integrate into other communities or emigrate and continued to maintain their exclusivity as ‘Anglo-Indians’. The Anglo-Indians were more numerous than any other Indian group in the British Army during the First World War. In return, they wanted more for their community than the mere status of being ‘natives of India’. With repeated submission of memoranda to the authorities between 1923 and 1925, the Anglo-Indian community expressed a heightened sense of urgency and insecurity. This insecurity was born out of British intransigence in reiterating their status as natives of India, which continued unaltered in spite of their unflagging dedication and service to the Empire. The Government of India Act of 1935 clearly defined the status of the Anglo-Indian and protected Anglo-Indian education and other vital concerns of the community. During this period, the Anglo-Indians were in the grips of a severe crisis of identity engendered by the very real possibility of Indianization; anticipated economic insecurity that the 1960s was to bring also became an important issue in the collective mind of the community. By 1945, under tremendous pressure from the Indian freedom movement, the government in England fixed a deadline for complete British withdrawal from India. The time had arrived for the Anglo-Indians to realize fully that the British did not do enough for them, even though it was for the British that they had worked—some might even say lived—and sacrificed so much. No other community felt so deprived, betrayed and threatened by the British as the Anglo-Indians. The community found it difficult to accept the reality foisted upon them: they were to stay in India as Indians. Many left for other countries, fearing what the unforeseeable future might have in store for them in an independent India. The very few who stayed on were the people who either could not afford to leave or those who were torn between the attraction of the West and a powerful bond with the country of their birth. With respect to the community, the period after independence may be broadly divided into three important phases: 1947 to the 1970s, the 1970s to the 1990s, and the 1990s onward. The development of the community has not been equal in these three phases and the 1970s is of particular significance for the community.