Urdu & Hindi One Language According To Scholars; Language Shouldn't Become A Cause For Division : Supreme Court

While rejecting the challenge of using Urdu on the signboard of a Municipality in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court yesterday warned that language should not become a cause for division and that the linguistic diversity of India should be appreciated. 

Coming to the present case, it must be stated that a Municipal Council is there to provide services to the local community of the area and cater to their immediate day-to-day needs. If people or a group of people, residing within the area covered by the Municipal Council are familiar with Urdu, then there should not be any objection if Urdu is used in addition to the official language i.e. Marathi, at least on the signboard of the Municipal Council. Language is a medium for exchange of ideas that brings people holding diverse views and beliefs closer and it should not become a cause of their division.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran made these remarks while upholding the correctness of the Bombay High Court's judgment, which held that the use of Urdu, as an additional language along with Marathi, the official language of the State, on the signboard of the new building of the Municipal Council, Patur in district Akola, would not violate the Maharashtra Local Authorities (Official Languages) Act, 2022.

The judgment, authored by Justice Dhulia, remarks that Marathi and Urdu occupy the same position under Schedule VIII of the Constitution. It is further stated that the 2022 Act does not prohibit the use of any other language, especially one included in the VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution.

The Court took pains in further addressing the prejudice against Urdu. It stated that language should not be mixed with religion.

Let our concepts be clear. Language is not religion. Language does not even represent religion. Language belongs to a community, to a region, to people; and not to a religion.

Urdu known as the finest specimen of Hindustani tahzeeb

Justice Dhulia observed that language is culture and that Urdu is known as the finest specimen of Hindustani tahzeeb. It is the sixth most spoken Scheduled language of India. 

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. 

He added that many scholars say that Hindu and Urdu are not two distinct languages but one. 

It may also be of some interest to know that when we criticize Urdu, we are in a way also criticizing Hindi, as according to linguists and literary scholars, Urdu and Hindi are not two languages, but it is one language. True, Urdu is mainly written in Nastaliq and Hindi in Devnagri; but then scripts do not make a language. What makes languages distinct is their syntax, their grammar and their phonology. Urdu and Hindi have broad similarities in all these counts.

Scholars like Gyan Chan Jain, as referred by the Court, says that although Hindi and Urdu are mentioned as two different languages in the Constitution, "political expediency is not a linguistic reality".

Other scholars like Amrit Rai, Ram Vilas Sharma and Abdul Haq have been referred by the Court.

Constituent Assembly debates on language 

The Court also refers to the Constituent Assembly debates on the issue of national language. Justice Dhulia refers to Granville Austin; according to whom, the Constituent Assembly had almost come to a breaking point while resolving the question of language or what should be the national language. 

It was a pragmatic hope nurtured by our national leaders in post-independent India and by the majority of the members of the Constituent Assembly that Hindustani had a very bright prospect of becoming the national language. The early debates in the Constituent Assembly indicated a compromise on this issue between the hardliners from both sides i.e. between supporters of Sanskritized Hindi and proponents of liberal mixture of Urdu and Hindi known as 'Hindustani'. But then comes a strong rupture in the form of the partition of India, and amongst its several fallouts, one vital blow was given to Urdu and Hindustani both.

Colonial powers divided two language

The Court says fusion of the two languages Hindi and Urdu met a roadblock in the form of the puritans on both sides and Hindi became more Sanskritized and Urdu more Persian. 

A schism exploited by the colonial powers in dividing the two languages on religion. Hindi was now understood to be the language of Hindus and Urdu of the Muslims, which is such a pitiable digression from reality; from unity in diversity; and the concept of universal brotherhood.

How Hindi was adopted 

Finally, the members of the Constituent Assembly agreed on 'Hindi' to be the “Rajbhasha” i.e. the official language of the Union of India with English to be used for a period of 15 years from commencement of the Constitution, though Parliament was given the powers to extend this period.

Be that as it may, it is a fact now that Hindustani is not the official language under the Constitution. Under Article 343 of the Constitution, Hindi is the official language, while the use of English was made permissible for official purposes for a period of fifteen years. But this does not mean that Hindustan and Urdu have become extinct. This was never the intention of the framers of the Constitution. In a speech to the Constituent Assembly on the language issue, Jawaharlal Nehru emphasized that the official language i.e. Hindi shall be enriched by borrowing the vocabulary from Urdu.

The bench referred to Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Sammelan v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2014), wherein the constitutionality validity of the Uttar Pradesh Official Languages Act was upheld, which declared Urdu as the second official language of Uttar Pradesh, the first being Hindi.

Reading this with Article 345 (official language or languages of the State), the Court reiterated that the adoption of an official language by a State legislature, let's say Hindi, does not bar the legislature from against invoking powers under this Article to designate another language as an official language, if required.

Viewed from another perspective, the Urdu language has come to be adopted by many States and Union Territories in India as the second official language in exercise of powers conferred by Article 345 of the Constitution. The States which have Urdu as one of the official languages are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, while the Union Territories which follow this practice are Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir

Case Details: MRS. VARSHATAI W/o. SH. SANJAY BAGADE v. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUDICIARY, MANTRALAYA, MUMBAI AND ORS. ETC. | DIARY NO. 24812 OF 2024

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 427

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