Urdu is our own

After mosques, it’s Urdu that seems to have become an eyesore for the hate brigade in India. A former councillor from Maharashtra’s Akola district went all the way to the Supreme Court against the use of Urdu on a municipality signboard. The SC dismissed her plea — just as the Bombay High Court had done earlier — and conveyed a message, loud and clear, to the entire nation: “Language is not religion.” Describing Urdu as the finest specimen of the ‘Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb’, the court asserted that viewing it as a language of Muslims was a “pitiable digression” from reality as well as unity in diversity. This is a timely reminder to the political leadership that polarising slogans such as “ek hain toh safe hain” are inimical to a country as diverse as our own.

The petitioner conveniently overlooked the fact that Urdu was one of the 14 languages included in the Eighth Schedule when the Constitution was adopted 75 years ago. It has not only been the language chosen by many renowned poets over the centuries but is also a part of everyday conversation today, particularly in courts and revenue offices. Many of us may not realise that we are using Urdu/Persian words or their derivatives — be it vakil, vakalatnama, mukhtarnama, fard or jamabandi. Countless parliamentary debates have been embellished by Urdu shayari. The apex court rightly pointed out that the word ‘Hindi’ itself came from the Persian ‘Hindavi’. That won’t be music to the ears of Hindutva zealots, who try to sniff out a mandir beneath virtually every masjid.

The municipal council concerned retained Urdu on the signboard simply because many local residents were familiar with the language. It achieved the basic purpose of communication, which every language is meant to do. However, the petitioner turned a non-issue into a Marathi-Urdu conflict — and ended up with egg on her face. Her fate should serve as a warning to all those who are quick to vilify anything with a Muslim/Mughal link.

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