Urdu and Indian Muslims

Urdu and Indian Muslims
By M A Siraj

Urdu is generally considered to be a language getting confined to the Muslim population in Independent India, notwithstanding secular credentials of its literature in the past.

That is why it has no claim over a specified space and has remained stateless. It is both the strength and the weakness of Urdu. While the spatial spread of Urdu people makes them truly pan-Indian, the absence of a solid critical mass enfeebles its case for a viable medium for education and other modes of communication.
In an India that is divided into linguistic states for administrative facility, Urdu is spoken in tiny enclaves across the states.
The latest Language Atlas of India published by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner has in a special exercise cross tabulated the Urdu and Muslim population in the country. The significant aspect of the outcome of the exercise is the fact that only a little over half of Muslims (i e 51.5 per cent) residing in Uttar Pradesh have recorded Urdu as their mother tongue.
In the case of Bihar, this proportion is about 66.8 per cent. In contrast, a vastly preponderant majority of Muslims living in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have registered Urdu as their mother tongue. Other states where proportion of Urdu speakers among Muslims is significant are Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
To sum up the position of Urdu vis-à-vis Muslims, it would be sufficient to point out that while there were 101.5 million Muslims in India (1991 Census which excludes Jammu and Kashmir), 42.72 per cent recorded Urdu to be their mother tongue. This is to say that less than half of Indian Muslims speak or use Urdu.
Let us go into the linguistic composition of Muslims in India in a little more detail. At least in three more states Muslims make up a good chunk of population. These are Kerala (23 per cent), Assam (28.43 per cent) and West Bengal (23.61 per cent). But Urdu speakers among the Muslims are merely 0.19 per cent, 0.06 per cent and 9.05 per cent respectively in these states. Similarly, in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, the proportion of Urdu speakers is 27 per cent, 37.40 per cent and 34
per cent.
The biggest surprise comes from Uttar Pradesh where only a little over 51 per cent Muslims have recorded Urdu to be their mother tongue. It clearly points to changes in linguistic demography of Muslims in a key state associated with Urdu’s development and politics. An unmistakable implication emerging from this is that the word Muslim is no longer co-terminus with Urdu.
Even as formal literacy is on the rise in the doab (region between Ganga and Yamuna) in Uttar Pradesh, the fault lines between Hindi and Urdu are more distinct due to the Devanagari script of Hindi and Perso-Arabic script of Urdu. This new shift in markers of linguistic identity now compels even Urdu-speaking but educated Muslims in Uttar Pradesh to identify with Hindi than Urdu.
Previously, in the absence of literacy and formal education, the two sister languages were easily clubbed under Hindustani. But no longer so now. Perhaps this reality pervades the Muslim existence in the entire North Indian states and calls for its factoring into the educational, curricular, media and communication strategy.
(The author works with the BBC World Service in Bangalore.)