Who will give Urdu the kiss of life?

Grave concern was expressed about the fate of the Urdu
language by leading political parties in the parliament recently. Mulayam Singh, Gopinath Munde, Salman Khurshid and Sharad
Yadav, besides many others, spoke in its favour. But Urdu’s uplift, as a language of the freedom struggle, courtesy and tehzeeb, is not possible unless it is introduced in schools as part of a trilingual formula. The plight of the language will continue unless Urdu medium schools are taken care of by the community itself.

Languages suffer when they are politicised. This is because politics creates hurdles, and destroys the shape, tone and taste of languages. If Urdu newspapers want to show leadership, they can follow the example set by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh, newspapers that hailed nationalism above all concerns.

Himayat Ali Shair, the world-renowned Urdu poet, said: “Urdu language has no future. It is dying and bound to end. Even in Pakistan, where Urdu is the national language, it is dying.

People are following the trend of Urdu mixed with English, giving it a new touch but destroying the tone, tenure, texture and taste of the language. In India, Urdu will survive because of Hindi.”

Ironically, Urdu has been kept alive by the Hindi cinema, FM
radio, madrassas and the occasional recitation of couplets from
Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz in Parliament. A language does not prosper through such methods alone but through people who love it.

Urdu litterateur, prof Gopi Chand Narang, feels that Urdu is like a patient on oxygen at the fag end of his life. “This is the last
generation of Urdu. The language is dying because regional and folk languages were not promoted. They were the identity of Hindustan but remained neglected. This happened for centuries, even under the rules of various kings. Had they been promoted, Urdu would have flourished. This is the state of affairs even today,” says Narang.

Each language has its charm and a distinct persona. Urdu, in particular, is sweet, poetic and very adaptable. If a language can be developed through a combination of seven languages, what can be more flexible and welcoming?

Unfortunately, in a system where Urdu medium and English medium are synonymous with the uneducated and educated, respectively, Urdu takes a secondary role and this impacts the development of the language itself. No wonder we have not been able to produce writers and poets of the calibre of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Quratul Ain Haider and
Krishan Chandar any more.

Languages have no religion or region. Pakistan is the only country created on the basis of religion. There Urdu became a target and victim of politics, as in India. What is most heinous in India is that sometimes Urdu is linked to terrorists and the Partition.

Urdu is not making its mark, according to Shahid Siddiqui,
editor of Urdu weekly Nai Dunia,  because most Urdu-medium schools have dimly-lit rooms, dilapidated structures (a few are run under the open sky), moth-eaten furniture, few teachers and so on. This is true even 63 years after Independence.

One of the biggest reasons for the degradation of Urdu has been the lack of mathematics, English and science teachers in Urdu-medium schools. Countrywide, every Urdu school has 10-12
job vacancies for teachers; no effort is made to fill them.

India is forging ahead, but its Muslim population is still largely uneducated. More than anybody else, it is the responsibility of
the Muslim community to ensure its members march into a secure future. More people should subscribe to Urdu newspapers and journals rather than receive them for free. Popular children’s magazines in Urdu like Khilona, Toffee, Chandanagri that went out of production, should be revived.

What is a real matter of concern is that if Urduwalas remain
stagnant, the country’s progress, too, will be affected.