Injustice to Urdu in India: It is not a language of Muslims alone, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Injustice to Urdu in India: It is not a language of Muslims alone

By Justice Markandey Katju, Judge, Supreme Court of India

In my opinion no country can progress if it overlooks its own cultural heritage. And I may clarify here that I do not regard Kashmiri Pandits alone as my ancestors, I regard Kalidasa also as my ancestor, I regard Amir Khusro also as my ancestor, I regard Ashoka and Akbar, Sur and Tulsi as my ancestors, just as I regard Mir and Ghalib as my ancestors. Real ancestry is cultural ancestry and not mere blood ancestry.

Urdu has a national following in our country as it is spoken in 13 States of the country. Urdu is the language which was created by the superimposition of some features and vocabulary of the Persian language on a Hindustani (Khariboli) foundation. Thus Urdu is a language created by the combination of two languages, Persian and Hindustani. It is for this reason that at one time it was called ‘Rekhta’ which means hybrid.

Since Urdu was created by the combination of Persian and Hindustani, the question arises whether Urdu is a special kind of Persian or a special kind of Hindustani? The answer is that it is a special kind of Hindustani, not a special kind of Persian.

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