'Misconception That Urdu Is Alien to India': What the Supreme Court Said While Upholding Its Use on Civic Signboard

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on April 15 upheld the use of Urdu on a signboard of a Maharashtra civic office.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran rejected a former councillor's challenge to the use of Urdu on the signboard of the Municipal Council of Patur.

"“There is no prohibition on the use of Urdu under the 2022 Act or in any provision of law...Marathi and Urdu occupy the same position under Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India," the court said.

The judgement was significant because the court also made key observations on how Urdu has come to be misrepresented in today's India. India's Hindutva bodies, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,  have long since posited Urdu as a foreign language which was forced upon the country by Muslim invaders.

In February this year, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath labelled those who read Urdu, particularly Muslims, the pejorative “Kathmulla.”

Against this backdrop, the apex court's words – quoted below – assume significance.

Schism exploited by colonial powers

This is not an occasion to have an elaborate discussion on the rise and fall of Urdu, but this much can be stated that this fusion of the two languages Hindi and Urdu met a roadblock in the form of the puritans on both sides and Hindi became more Sanskritized and Urdu more Persian. A schism exploited by the colonial powers in dividing the two languages on religion. Hindi was now understood to be the language of Hindus and Urdu of the Muslims, which is such a pitiable digression from reality; from unity in diversity; and the concept of universal brotherhood.

If people are familiar...

Coming to the present case, it must be stated that a Municipal Council is there to provide services to the local community of the area and cater to their immediate day-to-day needs. If people or a group of people, residing within the area covered by the Municipal Council are familiar with Urdu, then there should not be any objection if Urdu is used in addition to the official language i.e. Marathi, at least on the signboard of the Municipal Council. Language is a medium for exchange of ideas that brings people holding diverse views and beliefs closer and it should not become a cause of their division.

Language which was born in this land

The prejudice against Urdu stems from the misconception that Urdu is alien to India. This opinion, we are afraid, is incorrect as Urdu, like Marathi and Hindi, is an Indo-Aryan language. It is a language which was born in this land. Urdu developed and flourished in India due to the need for people belonging to different cultural milieus who wanted to exchange ideas and communicate amongst themselves. Over the centuries, it attained ever greater refinement and became the language of choice for many acclaimed poets.

Not a new debate

The debate surrounding languages is not new. In fact, it started even before independence, and the need for greater use of Indian languages was also recognized during the independence movement. It was accepted by a large number of Indians that the language which is a product of amalgamation of various Indian languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, is what is known as ‘Hindustani’, which a large mass of this country speaks.

A Nazm by poet Iqbal Ashhar

Our misconceptions, perhaps even our prejudices against a language have to be courageously and truthfully tested against the reality, which is this great diversity of our nation: Our strength can never be our weakness. Let us make friends with Urdu and every language.

If Urdu was to speak for herself, she would say:

“urdu hai mirā naam maiñ 'Khusrav' kī pahelī
kyuuñ mujh ko banāte ho ta.assub kā nishāna
maiñ ne to kabhī ḳhud ko musalmāñ nahīñ maanā
dekhā thā kabhī maiñ ne bhī ḳhushiyoñ kā zamāna
apne hī vatan meñ huuñ magar aaj akelī
urdu hai mirā naam maiñ 'Khusrav' kī pahelī”

Urdu is my name, I am the riddle of 'Khusrav'
Do not hold me for your prejudices
I never considered myself a Muslim
I too have seen happier times
I feel like an outsider in my homeland today
Urdu is my name, I am the riddle of 'Khusrav'

Language belongs to a community

Let our concepts be clear. Language is not religion. Language does not even represent religion. Language belongs to a community, to a region, to people; and not to a religion.  Language is culture. Language is the yardstick to measure the civilizational march of a community and its people. So is the case of Urdu, which is the finest specimen of ganga-jamuni tahzeeb, or the Hindustani tahzeeb, which is the composite cultural ethos of the plains of northern and central India. But before language became a tool for learning, its earliest and primary purpose will always remain communication.

Coming back to our case, the purpose here for the use of Urdu is merely communication. All the municipal council wanted to do was to make an effective communication. This is the primary purpose of a language, which the Bombay High Court has laid emphasis on.

Rejoice in our diversity

We must respect and rejoice in our diversity, including our many languages. India has more than hundred major languages. Then there are other languages known as dialects or ‘Mother Tongues’ which also run into hundreds. According to the 2001 Census, India had a total of 122 major languages including the 22 scheduled languages, and a total of 234 mother tongues. Urdu was the sixth most spoken scheduled language of India. In fact, it is spoken by at least a part of the population in all States and Union Territories, except perhaps in our north-eastern States. In the 2011 Census, the number of mother tongues increased to 270. However, it is to be noted
that this number was also arrived at by taking into consideration only those mother tongues which had more than ten thousand speakers. Thus, it would not be wrong to say that the actual number of mother tongues in India would run into thousands. Such is the immense linguistic diversity of India!

Tolerance

We have to keep in mind that language is not just a language, it is also representative of a culture. That makes a discussion on language both sensitive and delicate and this is where one of our principal Constitutional values of ‘tolerance’ must also come into play. We, the people of India, have taken great pain in resolving the language issue at the Centre, which is our unique achievement considering the linguistic diversity of the nation as we have been mentioning repeatedly.

Influence on court parlance

Interestingly, Urdu words have a heavy influence on Court parlance, both in criminal and civil law. From Adalat to halafnama to peshi, the influence of Urdu is writ large in the language of the Indian Courts. For that matter, even though the official language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts as per Article 348 of the Constitution is English, yet many Urdu words continue to be used in this Court till date. These include vakalatnama, dasti, etc.

Used by states

Viewed from another perspective, the Urdu language has come to be adopted by many States and Union Territories in India
as the second official language in exercise of powers conferred by Article 345 of the Constitution. The States which have
Urdu as one of the official languages are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West
Bengal, while the Union Territories which follow this practice are Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

Even from a Constitutional perspective, the use of language for official purposes is not according to any rigid formula.

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