URDU

Ali Sardar Jafri on Urdu Script

Asked why Urduwaale do not accept Devnagri script? I said, "Let Hindiwaale bring back the use of bindi in the Devnagari script which had been dropped only to corrupt the Urdu pronunciation. That's why Ghalib becomes Galib and ghazal is reduced to gajal. In fact, I become Japhri instead of Jafri. The second condition is that Ghalib and Meer be given prominent place in the curriculum and Urdu literature being taught along with other subjects."

I know it for sure that these suggestions will never be accepted by the Hindiwaalas. The reason for this was best recounted by Firaq Gorakhpuri. He would say that Hindiwaalas were afraid of the beauty and sweetness of Urdu. They also apprehend that the Sarkari Hindi which was being forged would fail miserably. The fact remains that in the Hindi world there exists a consummate anti- Urdu lobby. This was confirmed also, by none other than former editor of the Times of India Late Girilal Jain in some of his articles. Some excerpts of them I have used in one of my articles which dealt with common cultural heritage.

The best solution to the Urdu-Hindi issue was offered by Gandhiji. But after independence the Congress government which had stalwart leaders Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad, declared Hindi in Devnagari script as the lingua franca of the country. And Urdu was given a separate status in the Constitution. It was hounded out of the administration by the officialdom and suspended from the school text-books.

Till now four to five generations have been deprived of Urdu education and this trend seems to have come to stay... in the northern part of the Hindi-Urdu belt. There is no Urdu state. The three-language formula has been discontinued. Only in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar it has the status of a secondary language. But this is only peanuts. Today Urdu remains shorn off all it ethos, culture and society (in) Aligarh, Jamia and Hyderabad.

This is an unpalatable truth. It is also a fact that people who speak and understand Urdu are more than those whose mother tongue it happens to be. Such lovers of the language have a wide circle. It is they who use the Devnagari script.

Hence it has become imperative for the existence and well-being of the language that books periodicals or newspapers of the language be published in the Devnagri script simultaneously. This Urdu will become widely accessible. The language which is being put out by radio, television and the films is only confined to entertainment. And languages of entertainment soon lose their charm, greatness and maturity. This is why it is important that Urdu publications are brought out in both the scripts. This will salvage the language from becoming extinct.

During the last 50 years Urdu's popularity has certainly increased but proficiency in its rich and varied literature has declined.

This is the state of the affairs of the language. It will be a tall order to change the situation. We are passing through that era of history where our splendid past and its mixed (Ganga-Jamuni) culture are being mutilated.

To salvage the culture, Urdu too can play a very important and positive role. In this we have to win over the Hindiwaalas and seek the assistance of intellectuals of the non-Urdu areas. Urdu should reach out to all and sundry, this is the condition for its successful existence. Publishing Urdu books in Devnagri script as well would ensure its stronghold. Some of the publishers have on their own begun this trend Javed Akhtar's first collection of poems "Tarkash" is a recent example. It was published in Urdu and Hindi simultaneously and within two months, Saadat Hasan Manto and Rajendra Singh Bedi have also three Hindi editions were sold out. Complete works of been published in Hindi. Asmat Chugtai's works are being done. In December 1996 there will be 'Jashn-e- Ohalib'. Hindi and Urdu books will be brought out at a large scale. We should welcome this.

To conclude I am not against the Urdu script at all. There is no question of changing it.

Demand for Hindi as Official Language in Nepal

Nepalese Supply Minister and Nepal Sadbhavana Party President Gajendra Narain Singh has demanded that Hindi be made the National Language of Nepal along with Nepali.

 His party would continue its struggle to bring Hindi on par with Nepali... His party had achieved the right to speak in Hindi in Parliament.

Hindi was the language of more than 50 per cent of the Nepali people. Neglected and even banned by the monarchy, it could not find place even in the new democratic constitution of the country.