Urdu going out of fancy

Hyderabad: Even as the Urdu words persevere in most of the Indian languages and dialects, the younger generation, even those whose mother tongue is Urdu have slowly given up to the contemporary ‘lingua franca’ English. Scholars have blamed this to the inheritors of the language most of whom have focused little in upholding the Urdu in letter and spirit.

Speaking to The Hans India, Prof Ashraf Rafi, chairperson Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute and former head of the Department of Urdu at Osmania University, said that the onslaught of English has slowly reduced the Urdu into a language of households. She said that the irony was that throwing weight behind usage of English has prompted everyone to replace the words of Urdu with that of English. Whenever parents thought of better education for their wards, it is the English medium school which comes to their mind, where rarely Urdu is one of the subjects. “Those parents whose mothertongue is Urdu are also ready to sacrifice their traditions by sending their children to schools where Urdu is not a subject, but some other languages. Even the practice of children learning Quran, who parallelly learn Urdu, has slowly come down at home tuitions,” she observed.

Expressing similar opinion, the joint editor of Etemaad Urdu Daily, Aziz Ahmed, held that it was the responsibility of the people who held the treasure trove of Urdu which was slowly becoming less important, particularly in India. He said that erstwhile Hyderabad state not only patronised Urdu, but other languages, hence different cultures flourished within the State. But following ‘Police Action,’ the language chauvinism led to the decline of patronage amongst the ruling classes. “Urdu became victim of socio-political changes after 1948. But ultimately it is the responsibility of those whose mother tongue is Urdu to support the language by inculcating importance of language and its literature amongst younger generations,” he added. Ashraf Rafi believes that by pegging the English with development and progress in India, the country not only lost its cultural ethos but also failed to stand tall amongst the developed nations. She pointed out how the Japan and China resisted the onslaught and maintained pace using their mother tongue as the official language. “Government can designate Urdu as second language, but responsibility rests with all those whose mother-tongue is language to demand space in public sphere,” she says and adds ‘’Chinley, maangkey tu jaamna ley” (Do not ask for what you want, snatch it away), she says poetically. On the contrary, Aziz Ahmed points out that despite government declaring Urdu as second official language it does not reflect in the practice. “Have you seen the condition of Urdu medium schools? They have turned apathetic, as thousands of vacancies are still to be filled and none of the parents are ready because of no teachers and lack of proper infrastructure,” he adds.