Redefining Urdu politics in India - Athar Faruqi

This seminal volume of essays on the status of the Urdu language since partition examines the problems faced by Urdu and the future of its survival as a functional language in India. It forwards the argument that this once-secular language has now been denigrated to only the Muslim population-it survives merely as a medium of religious instruction in madrasas. This has brought the functionality of the language in the common Indian civic space into question and hasgiven it communal overtones. These essays, by seventeen renowned Urdu littrateurs, speak against such reductionism. They look forward to the integration of Urdu into the educational curriculum as a Modern Indian Language and provide workable solutions for the same. This would also pave the way for abetter assimilation of the minority Muslims into the mainstream fabric of India, by promoting a more liberal and modern outlook in the community. The essays are a significant contribution towards giving Urdu its rightful place alongside other regional Indian languages and the dissemination of education to all sections of the Indian Muslim community.