NEW DELHI: At a time when the country seems divided on the issue of language — and incidents of people being attacked in several states, particularly in Maharashtra, for not speaking the local language — the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the use of Urdu on the signboard of the new building of Patur Municipal Council in Akola district of Maharashtra. The court emphasised that language should not become a cause of division in society.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran said language is not religion and does not even represent religion, and there is a misconception that Urdu is alien to India. “Language belongs to a community, to a region, to people; and not to a religion,” the court said.
“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,” the bench said.
The court said 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.
“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,” the court said
“Even today, the language used by the common people of the country is replete with words of the Urdu language , even if one is not aware of it. It would not be incorrect to say that one cannot have a day-to-day conversation in Hindi without using words of Urdu or words derived from Urdu. The word ‘Hindi’ itself comes from the Persian word ‘Hindavi’! This exchange of vocabulary flows both ways because Urdu also has many words borrowed from other Indian languages, including Sanskrit,” it said.
“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,” it said.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran said language is not religion and does not even represent religion, and there is a misconception that Urdu is alien to India. “Language belongs to a community, to a region, to people; and not to a religion,” the court said.
“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,” the bench said.
The court said 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.
“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,” the court said
“Even today, the language used by the common people of the country is replete with words of the Urdu language , even if one is not aware of it. It would not be incorrect to say that one cannot have a day-to-day conversation in Hindi without using words of Urdu or words derived from Urdu. The word ‘Hindi’ itself comes from the Persian word ‘Hindavi’! This exchange of vocabulary flows both ways because Urdu also has many words borrowed from other Indian languages, including Sanskrit,” it said.
“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,” it said.
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