URDU

Bal Raj Madhok, President, Jan Sangh on the Indianization of Urdu

Urdu is a style of Hindi what distinguishes it from Hindi is its overload of Turkish, Persian and Arabic words and Arabic script in which it is written.

As is clear from its name, Urdu, which is a Turkish word for army, was developed in army camps of the foreign Turk soldiers. Like Tommy Hindi of the British soldiers in later days, it is Turki Hindi.

During the time of later Mughals, Urdu began to take the place of Persian as language of conversation and entertainment in Mughal courts as also in the provincial capitals like Lucknow and Hyderabad. Good many Hindu scribes and courtiers also gained proficiency in it. Urdu poetry with its Persian flavor became particularly popular and poets like Ghalib and Mir gave it respectability. The last titular Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar himself wrote poems in Urdu.

When the British took over power in India, they continued the use of local languages in the lower rungs of administration in different provinces. But in Bihar, the United Province of Agra and Audh and Punjab they gave this position to Urdu.

Even after Urdu became the language of elementary education and administration in these provinces, the common people, including Muslims of Indian origin stuck to their mother tongues like Bhojpuri, Oudhi and Braj written in Devnagari script. In course of time, Khadi Boli Hindi which comprehended all the variations of Hindi gained currency as the common language of the people of these provinces. But Muslims of foreign origin who had mainly settled in these provinces and had forgotten their original mother tongues Turkish and Persian took to Urdu with gusto and began to own it as their mother tongue.

With the growth of political awakening and urge for freedom from British rule, demand for making Hindi in Devnagari script as the language of education and administration began to grow in UP and Bihar. With the introduction of dyarchy in 1921 and provincial autonomy in 1937, this demand became irresistible.

Majority rule and elevation of Hindi in Devnagari script as the language of administration created resentment among Muslims of foreign origin who adored Urdu not only as their mother tongue but also as a symbol and legacy of Muslim rule. Some of them thought that they could not fit themselves in democratic Hindustan with the majority Hindu rule.

Some others began to toy with the idea of creating an Islamic homeland - Dar-ul-Islam- within India where Islam, Islamic Shariat and Urdu may have a place of pride. They got encouragement from the British. That led to the rise of the Muslim League and demand for partition. "Islam in danger" and "Urdu in danger" were the two main slogans of this movement for partition of India and creation of Pakistan.

The Urdu-speaking elite of Bihar and UP and teachers and students of Aligarh Muslim University played major role in building up this movement and creating frenzy for Pakistan among Muslims.

According to Ambedkar, exchange of Hindu and. Muslim populations left behind in Pakistan and truncated Hindustan was the "logical corollary of Partition". Jinnah shared this view. It was possible at that time. But because of opposition of Azad, Gandhi and Nehru, this was not done. But forcible eviction of almost all Hindus and Sikhs from West Pakistan and Muslims from East Pakistan did take place.

A large majority of Muslims, who voluntarily migrated to Pakistan from other parts of India, were Urdu-speaking Muslims of foreign origin. They saw to it that Urdu was declared the official language of Pakistan to the exclusion of Punjabi and Bengali, the two major languages of Pakistan. Mohajirs looked down upon Sindhis and their language and instead of learning Sindhi and getting assimilated with the Sindhi people, began to assert their separate identity. A similar attitude towards. Bengali Muslims and Bengali language was adopted by Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslims in East Pakistan.

The reaction Urdu created in East Pakistan resulted in the movement for separation from Pakistan. Thus, politics of Urdu led to vivisection of Pakistan in 1971 just as it had contributed to the vivisection of India in 1947. It also lies at the root of the Muhajir problem in Sindh.

Urdu is now fighting a losing battle in Pakistan. Sindh and NWFP have adopted Sindhi and Pashtu as their state languages. Demand for making Punjabi the state language of Punjab is gaining ground. This has isolated Urdu-speaking Muhajirs who have failed to take roots in Pakistan just as they had failed to take roots in India. They now want to carve an Urdu-speaking Muhajirstan out of Sindh. This may lead to not only another vivisection of Pakistan but also its total disintegration.

Having lost ground in their land of promise, the Urduwallahs left behind in truncated India, have again started using Urdu as an instrument for working up separatism among Indian Muslims. Thanks to vote bank politics of the Congress and its off-shoot parties, like Janata Dal and Samajwadi party and confused thinking of BJP, Urdu has once again become a live issue of Indian politics. Demand is being made for making Urdu second state language in a number of states Urdu academies are being set up, creation of an Urdu university is on the anvil and special concessions are being offered to the Urdu press which has become. synonymous for Muslim press.

But this is neither going to help Urdu nor bring voters to the Congress because Urdu has no appeal for large majority of Muslims of Indian origin. Jammu and Kashmir is the only Indian state which has adopted Urdu as its state language. But, according to the Linguistic Survey of India, 1991, only about 3,000 people of that state registered Urdu as their mother tongue. Those Muslims who study in Urdu schools and neglect Hindi and their respective mother tongues, not only get cut off from the regional and national mainstream but also suffer academically.

Arabic script, which is a difficult and unscientific script known to few people, has retarded the progress and adversely affected the popularity of Urdu. Its identification with Islam and Muslims has made things worse.

The only effective way to popularize and give a new lease of life to Urdu in India is to Indianize it by using Devnagari script for writing it. If the Government is really concerned about the propagation of Urdu, it must take steps to use Devnagari script for Urdu publications of Government-sponsored and supported academic organizations.

It is wrong to think that Urdu will lose its identity if it is not written in Arabic script. Roman script is the common script of most of the European languages. But every one of them has a distinct identity of its own... A beginning can be made by giving option to write Urdu in Devnagari script. Therefore, the only effective way is to Indianize it and not to politicize it. Those who are playing politics with Urdu... are doing more harm than good to Urdu and undermining national unity.

(Source: The Hindustan Times, 6 January, 1996)

Government Statement on Promotion of Urdu

A Centrally Sponsored Scheme of financial assistance of Appointment of Modern Indian Language Teachers (other than Hindi) which includes Urdu in Hindi-speaking States/UTs was launched in 1993-94. The Eighth Plan outlay for the scheme is Rs. 3.00 crore. No expenditure has been incurred till date as no proposals have been received from the States

(Source: LSUQ No. 2495 dated 12 December, 1995 by S. Shahabuddin)

Kuldip Singh Arora on Urdu Press

The Urdu Press in the country which had shrunk in shape and size since independence is undergoing a turnaround.

Prejudice, apathy and even hostility towards Urdu mainly on communal account, and above all lack of advance in Urdu printing technology had resulted in the negative growth of the Urdu Press.

The situation, however, has been changing for the better in the recent years. This is mainly because of technological upgradation and a general improvement in the content, coverage and presentation of news and views in Urdu newspapers. United News of India (UNI) launched its Urdu teleprinter service three years ago.

Calligraphy is no longer essential for page-making. Computers perform this task nowadays. After independence, Urdu began disappearing from schools and as a result Urdu newspapers stopped attracting best of the brains.

Things began looking up in the past two decades for three reasons: (1) vote seeking politicians realized the importance of Urdu as vehicle to reach the Muslim community; (2) invention of Urdu teleprinter, and (3) events unfolding themselves in post-emergency era which increased political awareness among the Muslim community.

The circulation of Urdu newspapers like "Inqlab", "Urdu Times". "Hindustan" (Bombay), "Salar" and "Pasban" (Bangalore) and "Siasat" and Rehnumai Deccan" (Hyderabad) is increasing the liberal approach towards the promotion of Urdu language in these States has played a pivotal role in the popularity of the Urdu Press.

Established Urdu newspapers have an average circulation of 20,000. However, the challenges before the Urdu Press are the same gauge newspapers. They include rising newsprint cost and dwindling advertisement revenue. The increase in circulation of Urdu newspapers is not as fast as in the case of Hindi or other regional language newspapers.

In the matter of Government advertisements Urdu newspapers have been at a disadvantage. The DAVP showed that Urdu newspapers got almost one per cent of the total advertisement budget till December 1994.

Urdu editors stoutly deny that their newspapers fan communal passions. Attempts are being made to make Urdu newspapers complete, as Urdu editors nowadays give quite a lot of space to sports, commerce and cultural and literacy events. A lot of positive writing appeared in Urdu newspapers which was not brought to the notice of Non-Urdu readers. After the communal riots in Bombay, a group was constituted which undertook the job of translating positive writing in Urdu and other languages particularly Marathi and Gujarati. These translations were syndicated and supplied free of cost to other newspapers.

The impact of Urdu Press on the Muslim community was immense because the members of this community take as gospel truth every world printed in the Urdu Press. More should be done to educate the community for ensuring their development - social, educational and economic. The Central Government's 2.5% advertisement budget for the promotion of the Urdu Press was not adequate. According to the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) Urdu newspapers are 388 (registered) As the country's process of modernization gets further accelerated and the general perception about Urdu language changes, the Urdu Press is bound to do better in the year ahead.

(Source: The Hindustan Times, 20 November, 1995)