Urdu in India: victim of Hindu nationalism & Muslim separatis;PART -6

By Syed Shahabuddin, The Milli Gazette

Published Online: May 13, 2011

Print Issue: 1-15 April 2011

Mistakes of Urdu Movement

In retrospect, it appears that even the first organized effort to retrieve the position of Urdu by the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu when it had submitted the well-known memorandum to the then President of the Republic was not well-drafted or well-advised. The Memorandum had laid stress on symbolic and token use of Urdu while in the changing educational context it was being slowly and steadily exiled from the educational institutions, depriving second, third, and later generations of Urdu-speaking families from learning Urdu and becoming readers of Urdu newspapers, periodicals and books. One wishes that the Anjuman had foreseen this scenario and demanded a well defined presence and place for Urdu in primary, upper primary & high schools and insisted on the fulfillment in letter and spirit of the safeguards for linguistic minorities in the Constitution. The last attempt was made by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then Education Minister, by formulating the Three Language Formula in which the mother tongue was given the place of honour as the first language for every child but once he passed way, the anti-Urdu lobby took over in Hindi-speaking States and the fundamental & legitimate rights of the Urdu-speaking community succumbed to the Hindi crusade and the unchallengeable pressure of the state, surprisingly on financial grounds. The fatal blow to Urdu teaching was dealt by the Gujral Committee, which replaced Mother Tongue by the Principal Language of the state in the first slot of the Three Language Formula. Subsequently even the second slot provided for Mother Tongue was allotted to Sanskrit or an extra-regional language in the name of national integration. Therefore, Urdu despite its national spread now has little place in the Three Language Formula.

What mattered was the assertion of its minority status in all states of the country where, it was still understood by the common man. But the political shortsightedness of the Muslims kept them from raising this basic demand. The Urdu elite wanted some college departments to be opened, some more teachers to be appointed and their pay scale brought on par with others. So despite enabling legislation first in Bihar, then in UP & other states Urdu continues to decline, while political gestures continue to be made and promises and assurances continue to be given. After elections these promises and assurances are always forgotten and the Urdu speaking community itself has other more pressing priorities to attend to. So, the downslide continues. It never stops.