It is strange (and sad) that there has been an outcry against Urdu in recent times. A language born in the Indian subcontinent; a sister language of Hindi is now sought to be framed as somehow ‘foreign’. Witness the brouhaha over the name of a fashion line from FabIndia not to long ago. And now #Urdu and #Haldiram are trending. Here’s why:
In the video we see someone claiming to be a reporter heckling a store employee and repeatedly demanding why there is ‘Urdu’ lettering on a snack packet. The store employee can be seen exasperatedly telling the person that the same thing is written in Hindi and in English as well and that she has the choice of buying or not buying the product.
Urdu is widely spoken in India and Urdu words commonly pepper the Hindi that all Indians speak. The text is to be found on our currency notes as well, but some people now have a problem with it.
Recently the Halal controversy has been raging and has been much in the news. Some people are demanding that Halal meat be banned because it is a cruel method of slaughter that has religious Islamic connotations. Groups have also asked for a boycott of Himalaya products, supposedly because of their Halal certification.
Most popular Indian companies (especially those that export their products to Islamic countries) use Urdu on their packaging and have Halal certifications. This includes Adani, Reliance, Tata, Parle, Kwality Foods, Patanjali, Dabur, Nestle, Ramdev Foods, Mother Dairy and many others. However some have a problem with this.
After the Hijab controversy, now it is Halal meat, another Muslim custom that has some under attack. It was never an issue before now that most of the meat sold in India is halal certified (slaughtered as per certain customs). Some Sikhs (mandated to have only Jhatka meat) would avoid halal meat for their own reasons and Muslims would have only halal meat due to similar religious convictions. However this was never an issue before now.
Independent journalist Sakshi Joshi made this explanation video to clarify how this is a manufactured controversy, not an idea that emerged genuinely or organically. It also clarifies how this isn't even #Urdu on the #Halidiram packets but Arabic; put there for consumers abroad.
It has always been the attempt of politicians to prevent people from speaking about the issues that really matter – such as jobs, inflation, and skyrocketing fuel prices. Following the state assembly elections, fuel prices have reached never before heights. The fact that we the citizens are left debating a non-issue like the text used on a snack packet rather than issues that really matter, tells us a lot. It tells us how easy it is to divide us and to make us suspect our fellow citizens and hate their customs. It tells us that we think of some Indians as more Indian and others and their way of life as somehow less Indian.
Urdu is a symbol of our precious Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb; the language of the most beautiful poetry & ghazals, of refinement and ‘nazakat’. It is not the language of a particular religion; but even if it was, it is still as much Indian as any other language. When did we as a nation become so closed-minded and so prejudiced as to hate on a language? When did we start to see religion in food and agenda in snack packets?
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