Language not religion

New Delhi: Language is not religion and to consider Urdu as a language of Muslims is a ‘pitiable digression’ from reality and unity in diversity, the Supreme Court has said while rejecting a petition challenging the use of Urdu on the nameboard of a municipal council in Maharashtra. The bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a petition by Varshatai Sanjay Bagade, a former councillor of Patur in Maharashtra's Akola district. Bagade had challenged the use of Urdu, along with Marathi, on the nameboard of the municipal council. She had argued that the work of the Municipal Council can only be conducted in Marathi, and the use of Urdu is impermissible, even on the signboard.

Earlier, the council rejected her petition, and she got no relief in the Bombay High Court either. She then approached the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court said” "language is not religion" and does not even represent religion. "Language belongs to a community, to a region, to people and not to a religion. 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," the court said.

The court noted that the municipal council had retained Urdu on the nameboard because many local residents understood the language. All the municipal council wanted to do was to make an effective communication," the court said.

"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," it said.