A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

which were struggling to assert their identity.
Urdu emerged as the national language
of Pakistan which was not spoken in any
of its regions . Urdu was the language
of those refugees who had been displaced
from different parts of North India and
had reached Pakistan and were called
Mohajirs.
Why was Urdu made into a national
language? The reason is very obvious. By
that time, Urdu had been accepted as
a marker of Indian Islamic identity. Despite
the fact that a large number of non-Muslims-particularly
Hindus had a major
contribution towards its development –
it was believed that Urdu was the language
of the Muslims and it be made the national
language of the country- especially created
for the Muslims. It was quite similar to
the situation regarding Hindi which had
become a mark of identity for the Hindus.
The division of the nation was based on
two-nation theory based on religion, and
despite the fact that the very concept
of the division of a nation on the basis
of religion was highly unrealistic and full
of mockery, a lot of people believed in
this concept and at least one nation came
into being on its foundation. It was only
after twenty-five years that the two-nation
theory proved to be disastrous after the
creation of Bangladesh. In fact, in 1947
itself, after India became a secular republic
rather than a Hindu nation, there were
question marks on its legitimacy and the
two-nation theory became a debatable issue.
Religious and secular nations seek different
solutions for the challenges that beset them.
This is the difference which is seen in
these young nations, and in the methods
they employ to solve the problem of the
language.
Jinnah went to Dacca in 1948. His
speech delivered to the students of the
Dacca University is the biggest example
of the intolerance of a nation based on
religion. It is a universal fact that the
insistence of the Bengalis of East Pakistan,
regarding their language was markedly
different from any other language nationalities–Punjabi,
Sindhi, Baluchi or Pashto.
What was more important than this was
that Bengali was by far the most widely
spoken language in comparison to any
other language in Pakistan, but it was also
the language of more than half of its
population. Language, for them was not
just a medium of self-expression, but more
than this it was responsible for the identity
formation in a multinational society. Apart
from this, in a fast emerging nascent nation
there was political space, and government
jobs were being procured on the basis
of language only. In this context, Jinnah's
assertion in front of those students in
Dacca, that only Urdu will be the contact
language in Pakistan and that it will be
the medium to impart higher education
as well, proved to be the biggest blow
to the process of nation building. The
64 :: January-March 2012