BJP has problem with Urdu, Yogi’s dogmatic tone in the House and education in Rajasthan in danger
The uproar over language is not new in India. Here, states have been divided and named based on language. We have seen politics over language when Biharis are beaten up in Karnataka or Maharashtra, boards are blackened in Tamil Nadu in protest against Hindi, and sometimes there is protest in Parliament over Sanskrit translation. The latest case is of Urdu, when the Rajasthan government has issued an order to teach Sanskrit instead of Urdu in Bikaner, although the government has the argument that there were no students in Urdu. At the same time, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has created a new political storm by saying inside the House that teaching Urdu will make people fundamentalists.
Politics of identity and language
This is not a new thing. It is related to identity. We have seen politics of colours before this. Especially in Uttar Pradesh, after Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister, many places were painted saffron, even roadways buses were painted saffron. There is an environment where saffron colour is associated with Hindus and green colour with Muslims. Same is the case with language. The misfortune of Urdu is that it is associated with Muslims, whereas the matter is very different because Urdu is an Indian language. It was created and grew in India. If we talk about Urdu, then Kayasthas and Khatris nurtured it, but in the current politics, Urdu is the language of Muslims. There is no doubt about this and Yogi Adityanath was pointing towards that. When it comes to education, he agrees that English has become the most important at this time, but that is everywhere. No one wants to teach Hindi literature to their children just like no one wants to read Urdu literature. Very few people do that, most of the things have been handed over to English medium schools, so that is a different matter. However, when this matter comes in politics, its implications are very different.
Politicians should spare the language
This time also when Yogi said this in the House, then a statement came from Akhilesh Yadav. He said in a sarcastic tone that becoming a Mullah and Maulvi is not bad and becoming a Yogi is also not bad but becoming a bad Yogi is bad. So the arrows and quiver of politics are in their place and the bowstring is drawn so attacks are also happening. Overall, the point is that we should see what was the context of this. Actually, a new tradition has started in the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh that MLAs can also express their views in regional dialects, such as Bundelkhandi, Awadhi, Bhojpuri. This initiative has been taken by the government, a debate was going on on it and the leader of the opposition Mata Prasad Pandey said on it that we have fought a lot for Hindi and these dialects have come out of Hindi, but at least Hindi should be given importance in the House.
It will be difficult to remove Urdu in UP
From there, this controversy turned to Urdu and fundamentalists. Yogi Adityanath does not miss any opportunity to bring the issue of Hindus and Muslims into politics. The same happened yesterday. However, one difference between Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is that if Rajasthan is talking about stopping Urdu in government schools, then it can do so, but it is difficult to do so in Uttar Pradesh because in Uttar Pradesh, Urdu has the status of second official language and the Supreme Court has also approved it. So, if the government has to remove Urdu, then it will have to do a lot of legislative work, then that act will have to be abolished, then after that this judgment of the court will have to be seen, so removing Urdu will not be so easy.
Intentions and policy, these two are very different things in politics. So the question of intentions at this time is that the way Yogi Adityanath puts Hindutva politics above his USP, it is obvious that if one has to be kept above, then the other has to be made small. Unfortunately, Urdu has replaced Muslim in this. However, the education of Maulvi, which he was talking about, is not in Urdu at all, it is in Arabic and Persian, to make people fundamentalists. Politics has its own meanings, in this the parties address the general public in their own way, and one understanding is that Urdu has become the language of Muslims.
When Mata Prasad Pandey was speaking, he did not mention Urdu, he mentioned dialects and Hindi. Urdu was brought up by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in that issue. There is no doubt that many times we have also heard such linguistic speeches in the Legislative Assembly, in which many examples have also been given in the local dialect. However, the main language has been Hindi. Now that this new tradition is starting in Uttar Pradesh, it has good aspects too. All the languages in our state should get acceptance, but a system will have to be made for that, because if someone is talking in Bundelkhandi, then how will the MLA who knows Bhojpuri from the whole of Uttar Pradesh understand him? So, an interpreter will have to be arranged, which is not there in Uttar Pradesh right now.
