Urdu movement

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Urdu literature
ادبیاتِ اُردُو
Urdu language
Major figures
Amir Khusrau (father of Urdu literature) - Wali Dakhani (father of Urdu poetry) - Mir Taqi Mir - Ghalib - Abdul Haq (Baba-e-Urdu)
Urdu writers
Writers – Novelists – Poets
Forms
Ghazal – Fiction
Institutions
Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu
Urdu movement
Literary Prizes
Related Portals
Literature Portal

India Portal

Pakistan Portal
The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdū
Nastaliq script
.

The Urdu movement was a socio-

Pakistan movement
.

History

Main article:
History of Urdu

Hindi-Urdu controversy

See also:
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Sir Syed in his later years, wearing official decorations.

The

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan became the most vocal opponent of this change.[1] He viewed Urdu as the lingua franca of Muslims. Having been developed by the ruling Mughal Empire, what became known as Urdu was used as a secondary language to Persian, the official language of the Mughal court.[1] Since the decline of the Mughal dynasty, Sir Syed promoted the use of Urdu through his own writings. Under Sir Syed, the Scientific Society of Aligarh translated Western works only into Urdu.[1] Sir Syed considered Urdu to be "a common legacy of Hindus and Muslims".[2] The schools established by Sir Syed imparted education in the Urdu-medium. The demand for Hindi, led largely by Hindus was to Sir Syed an erosion of the centuries-old Muslim cultural domination of India.[3][4]
Testifying before the British-appointed education commission, Sir Syed controversially exclaimed that "Urdu was the language of gentry and of people of high social standing, whereas Hindi was to be the vulgar."[1] His remarks provoked a hostile response from Hindu leaders and advocates of Hindi. ".[5] The Hindus unified across the region to demand the recognition of Hindi. The success of the Hindi movement led Sir Syed to further advocate Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and as the language of the Muslim intellectual and political class.[1] His educational and political work grew increasingly centred on and exclusively for Muslim interests. He also sought to persuade the British to give it extensive official use and patronage.

Urdu in Muslim politics

See also:
Pakistan movement

Sir Syed's call for the adoption of Urdu as the language of Indian Muslims won extensive support from the

Maulana Maududi
emphasised the knowledge of Urdu as essential for ordinary and religious Muslims.

Urdu in Pakistan and India

Dhaka Medical College, commemorates the struggle for Bengali language
.

In Pakistan, Urdu has been so far, the

Bengali Language Movement. Although politicians like Khawaja Nazimuddin supported the cause of Urdu, a vast majority of Bengali nationalists saw the government policy as a symbol of racial discrimination. This wedge in Pakistani society would ultimately lead to the Bangladesh Liberation War and the establishment of Bangladesh
in 1971.

Independent India adopted Urdu as one of its 22 scheduled languages although its counterpart, Hindi, enjoys the status of official language. Urdu is also officially recognised by the states of

Shatranj Ke Khiladi and Pakeezah
.

Despite being given the status of a scheduled language, there have been concerns that the Urdu language has largely been on a decline in India. This decline has been attributed to reasons such as lack of promotional policies by central language regulation boards, the promulgation and preference of Urdu's counterpart Hindi as the Indian union's official language since 1950, the higher number of Hindi-speakers in India leading to the suppression of Urdu, the partition of India and Urdu's national language status in Pakistan overshadowing the language's prospects in India, as well as the lack of many schools in India teaching Urdu as a medium of instruction.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h R. Upadhyay. "Urdu Controversy – is dividing the nation further". South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original (PHP) on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2006.
  2. ^ Muslim Politics and Leadership in the South Asian Sub-continent, Yusuf Abbasi, 1981, page 65-66
  3. ^ R. Upadhyay. "Indian Muslims – under siege?". South Asia Analysis Group. Archived from the original (PHP) on 2 October 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
  4. ^ R. C. Majumdar (1969). Struggle for Freedom. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 127. ASIN: B000HXEOUM.
  5. ^ Muslim Politics and Leadership in the South Asian Sub-continent, Yusuf Abbasi, 1981, page 90
  6. ^ Yusuf Abbasi (1981). Muslim Politics and Leadership in the South Asian Sub-continent. Institute of Islamic History, Culture, and Civilization, Islamic University (Islamabad). p. 90.
  7. ^ Shahabuddin, Syed (13 May 2011). "Urdu in India: victim of Hindu nationalism & Muslim separatism – i". The Milli Gazette. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
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