The move doesn’t promote Urdu and banks on a vague concept of national interest. More important, it overlooks a ground reality – majority of people writing in Urdu are non-Muslims
The move is tailored to suit an ideology that perceives Muslims, and hence all Urdu writers, with suspicion.
As though enough harm was not done to Urdu language post-Partition by removing it from the school curriculum of North India to get political mileage, the proverbial last nail has been driven into its coffin by a letter issued by NCPUL (National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language), that demands a declaration of ‘loyalty’ to the nation by Urdu writers. The NCPUL purchases Urdu books in bulk on all subjects – ranging from science to literature– for distribution in national libraries. NCPUL also provides financial assistance for the writing of selected books. The new declaration form demands the writers to declare that the book, selected by NCPUL, “does not contain anything which goes against the policies of the Indian government, or anything that is against national interest, or anything which promotes disharmony between the various communities.” Not only this, it also adds a veiled threat, that the council could take legal action against the writers, and ask them to return the financial assistance they have been provided, if they do not abide by the declaration. Adding insult to injury, it requires the writers to get their form signed by two witnesses!
NCPUL, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), has defended the move saying the declaration is demanded to protect “national interest”. In 1945 Urdu writers Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto had to fight a legal case slapped against their writings labelled ‘obscene’ by a few mullahs who claimed, they were objecting to `obscenity’ in Urdu writing “to protect the community.” The case was fought under the British government. The court finally failed to pin down the words that could be labelled obscene in the larger context of the text. A written text can be interpreted in multiple ways, depending upon the sensibility of its readers. “National interest” is too vague an idea for a 67- year-old thriving democracy; it can be interpreted differently by people of different ideologies.
Urdu, once the lingua franca of north India, is dying under the pressure of adaptation to modern education. With almost no use of Urdu, the finesse and sophistication of expression associated with it has also faded from general discourse. Yet, individuals are trying to keep it alive. The role of Urdu academies and NCPUL is therefore needed to keep the language on a life-support system, if not kicking. Kashmiri Lal Zakir, a member and briefly head of the I K Gujral Committee for Promotion of Urdu says, the committee advised the Government on several measures for adequate facilities for Urdu speaking people in educational, cultural and administrative matters.
The move by NCPUL is tailored to suit a certain ideology that perceives Muslims, and hence the Urdu writers, with suspicion. It certainly doesn’t promote the cause of Urdu, and also overlooks a ground reality. Even today, majority of people writing in Urdu are non-Muslims. In Panjab University, of the 20 pursuing Masters in Urdu, 90 percent are non- Muslims. Zakir, having authored over 100 books, says, “I have never seen such a declaration.” Even though he got publishers for his works both in India and Pakistan, and never needed NCPUL’s help, it is crucial for writers who write in a language that has no marketing strategy for its books and has a depleting readership. To put such conditions on their writing is to limit Urdu further in its scope.
“No one should write against the nation, but to put a condition that the government should not be criticised is not right, such restrictions will suffocate Urdu writing” says Ali Abbas, Head, Dept of Urdu, PU. He adds, NCPUL used to send a proforma to its writers but such conditions were never a part of it. He sent his book to NCPUL a year back but there was no such proforma. “There are as such very few avenues for writers in Urdu. Just because NCPUL spends money for promotion of Urdu books and conducts seminars, it cannot demand an undertaking that pre supposes that writers writing in Urdu can be anti-national” says Shams Tabrezi, a well known Urdu poet and writer of 13 books.
The declaration form has created more furore in the wake of removal of stories of Ismat Chughtai and Safdar Hashmi that offer narratives of Muslim background in stories like ‘Ek Din ki Badshahat’ and ‘Ajmer Ki Sair’ in class V, ‘Haleem Chala Chand Par’ and ‘Soot Ka Resham’ in class IV and ‘Chand Ke Khatir’ in class III. “Writers across the world, from all languages, have the freedom to criticise their governments, such a move has never been heard of. This happens only under regimes of dictators,” say an Urdu writer based in Mumbai, that still publishes one of the oldest and one of the few surviving literary Urdu magazines Shair. In one of its editorials, the editor, Iftikhar Imam Siddiqui, expressed his concern for fast disappearance of non-Muslim Urdu writers among the young generation. All the non- Muslims writers of Urdu are old, and he wonders in the absence of more such writers, Urdu writing, as such under scrutiny, will lose its secular nature.
Punjab, UP and Himachal were the homeland of Urdu poetry and for 104 years, the Urdu journal Mastana Jogi was published from Punjab. Most well known names came from this region; Rajinder Singh Bedi, Upendra Nath Ashk, Krishan Chander, Zakir, Dr Naresh , Malik Ram, Ram Lal, Pt Brajmohan Kaifi, Harbans Dost and Takht Singh, and most of them are non-Muslims.
Putting the writers under an obscure scanner and top it with strange justifications, like that offered by NCPUL director Irteza Karim, “If a writer wants financial aid from the government, then the content cannot be against [the government],” is insensitive to the writers and turns a blind eye to the crisis of Urdu. The decision to add the declaration form was taken about a year ago at a meeting of the council members, which includes members of the HRD Ministry. A clarification adds yet more bizarre basis for declaration form, lack of manpower to scrutinise every single line written by authors, a declaration saves them legal trouble!
REFERENCE:
Mar 28, 2016.Affirm loyalty if writing in Urdu.The Tribune.Retrieved from
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/affirm-loyalty-if-writing-in-urdu/214151.html
