Urdu: The Beauty That Is Destined to Die
By Syed Osman Sher
Toronto, Canada


Urdu, nurtured and loved both by Muslims and non-Muslims as the sweetest language of the Subcontinent, besides its beauty in diction, prose, and specially poetry, had a political role to play in the struggle for Pakistan. Ironically, the birth of the very country in whose creation it had played a vital part, has become, ipso facto, the cause of its imminent demise.
There is no denying the fact that before Partition, Urdu was also adopted as their language, both spoken and written, by a large number of non-Muslims throughout India. Their contribution in its development and imparting richness to this language cannot be denied. In a way it was a joint effort which had brought Urdu at its apex, as an epitome of a literature of highest order. However during the struggle for freedom, some communal Hindus did not take to it kindly.
The Hindu Mahasabha Party, at its Ajmer session in 1933, resolved: “Urdu is a foreign language which is a living monument to our slavery. It must be eradicated from the page of existence. Urdu is the language of the Malechas (the impure, i.e. the Muslims) which has done great harm to our national ends by attaining popularity in India”
After the Provincial elections held in 1937, the rule of Congress party was established in many provinces. Their indifference to the development of Urdu prompted Muhammad Ali Jinnah to protest at the 1938 session of the All-India Muslim League in the following words: “They (the Congress) are pursuing a policy of making Hindi compulsory language, which must necessarily, if not completely, destroy — at any rate, virtually undermine — the spread of the development of Urdu; and what is worse still, is that with its Hindu Sanskrit literature and philosophy and ideals will and must necessarily be forced upon Muslim children and students.”
The famous speech of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the 1940 Session of All-India Muslim League, through which he tried to project the Muslims of India as a nation, separate from the Hindus, had to take, amongst others, the crutches of this language. He declared on March 22 that, “It is dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has gone far beyond the limits and is the cause of most of your troubles, and will lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, literatures.”
In 1947, the country was divided. India made Hindi its national language. Urdu, which was then present along with Hindi on every sign post at railway stations, buildings, and streets, became a forgotten language. It went as a legacy to Pakistan. In Pakistan, half of the population had a Sanskritized language. They loved their own language. It was for the other half to embrace Urdu. But here too, the majority of about 60 percent had its own mother tongue which is being developed fast. There is no reason for them to put on the shackles of a language which belongs to none. In Pakistan, Urdu is there only as long as it serves as a means of communication among the peoples of the four provinces. Soon, it will be overtaken by the other. Then, Urdu will meet its final end.

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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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