In a landmark decision, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the use of Urdu on the signboard of a municipal council building in Maharashtra, reinforcing the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity.
Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran stated, “language is culture” and should unite rather than divide, praising Urdu as a key element of the Ganga-Jamuni and Hindustani cultures.
The ruling came in response to a petition from a former councillor who contested the use of Urdu on the Patur Municipal Council building in Akola district, the Indian Express reported.
The court dismissed the challenge, affirming that the use of Urdu is permitted under the Maharashtra Local Authorities (Official Languages) Act, 2022, and does not violate any existing law.
In his written judgement, Justice Dhulia emphasised the need to reasses biases regarding language, highlighting the role of Urdu in India’s rich cultural tapestry and advocating for linguistic inclusivity in public spaces.
“Our misconceptions, perhaps even our prejudices against a language, have to be courageously and truthfully tested against the reality, which is this great diversity of our nation: our strength can never be our weakness. Let us make friends with Urdu and every language,” the SC asserted.
The court directly addressed the “misconception that Urdu is alien to India,” firmly stating that “it is a language which was born in this land”.
“Language is not religion. Language does not even represent religion. Language belongs to a community, to a region, to a people; and not to a religion,” Dhulia elaborated.
The court emphasised the primary function of the language as a communication, stating: “Before language became a tool for learning, its earliest and primary purpose will always remain communication… The purpose here for the use of Urdu is merely communication.
“All the municipal council wanted to do was to make an effective communication. This is the primary purpose of a language, which the Bombay High Court has laid emphasis on.”
Multilingual
The Indian SC went on to underscore the country’s vast linguistic diversity, citing census data from 2001 which recorded 122 major languages and 234 mother tongues, with Urdu being the sixth most spoken scheduled language, present across most of India.
The 2011 Census further increased the number of mother tongues to 270 (considering those with 10,000 speakers), suggesting the actual number could be in thousands.
Addressing the historical context, the court noted that the “prejudice against Urdu stems from the misconception that Urdu is alien to India,” clarifying that Urdu, like Marathi and Hindi, is an Indo-Aryan language that developed in India due to the need for inter-cultural communication.
“Over the centuries, it attained… greater refinement and became the language of choice for many acclaimed poets,” the judegement said.
The court also pointed out that the pervasive influence of Urdu in everyday Hindi and even in Indian legal parlance, citing examples like “adalat” (court), “halafnama” (affidavit), and “peshi” (appearance before court), as well as terms used in the top court like “vakalatnama” (document of power of attorney).
It also noted that several Indian states and union territories have adopted Urdu as a second official language.
“When we criticise Urdu, we are in a way also criticising Hindi, as, according to linguists and literary scholars, Urdu and Hindi are not two languages, but one language,” it said.
The court said that “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 15 years.
“But this does not mean that Hindustani and Urdu have become extinct. This was never the intention of the framers of the Constitution.”
“Even today, the language used by the common people of the country is replete with words of the Urdu language, even if one is not aware of it.”
Ultimately upholding the High Court’s view, the SC bench concluded that for a municipal council aiming to serve its local community, using Urdu on a signboard alongside the official language (Marathi) is a matter of effective communication and should not face objection if a segment of the population is familiar with it.
“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,” the bench firmly stated.