Can The Reversal Of The Urdu Versus Bangla Dichotomy In West Bengal Complicate Hindi Nationalism At The Service Of The Marwari-Right-Wing Nexus?
By
Ather Farouqui, New Age Islam
17 January 2023
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Those Who Claimed—Indeed A Fake Claim—Urdu As
Their Mother Tongue And Insisted On Urdu-Medium Schools In West Bengal Only
Chose The Path To Support The Divisive Urdu Politics Either In Confusion Or For
Self-Serving Interests. It Was A Confrontationist Position Vis-À-Vis Local
Language And Culture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On 20
November 2022, the West Bengal branch of the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) in
Calcutta organized an Education Conference. Its purpose was to press for mainly
one demand: to provide facilities for teaching the Bangla language in
Urdu-medium government schools on a par with state-run and private
Bengali-medium schools.
With this
demand, Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) 's West Bengal branch has championed the
cause of strengthening the communal bond in a genuinely unique manner for a
language organisation—by showing respect and value for the regional language.
Language and literature are the best tools to become integral to the regional
culture and identity. To send children to Urdu-medium schools as a compulsion
is different from doing it as an option, and the two should not be conflated.
This new
understanding in the Anjuman's West Bengal branch is like seeing the light at
the tunnel's beginning, unlike in the past when the light was either very dim
or not visible even at the end. Those who claimed—indeed a fake claim—Urdu as
their mother tongue and insisted on Urdu-medium schools in West Bengal only
chose the path to support the divisive Urdu politics either in confusion or for
self-serving interests. It was a confrontationist position vis-à-vis local language
and culture. Urdu was not the mother tongue of most of the people in West
Bengal who made this claim. Still, when their families migrated to West Bengal,
mainly from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, they claimed Urdu, not their
actual language, as their mother tongue. It was a false linguistic identity
claim made on erroneous political premises.
The same is
true in the case of Hindi. Those who claim Hindi as their mother tongue
participate in a political act of Hindu nationalism. Their mother tongues are
regional languages and not Hindi. The same thing was done in Punjab in the
first and second censuses. People who did not utter a single word in Hindi
insisted on registering not Punjabi but Hindi in census returns.
The
repercussions were disastrous. Hindi speakers are more isolated than the
so-called Urdu speakers in West Bengal. Here Hindi is not the subject of
discussion wrapped in the multi-layered linguistic and identity politics,
especially Hindi as equivalent to Hindu nationalism as understood all over
India. In West Bengal, like in south India, Hindi is hated as a majoritarian
imposition that has no place in Bengal's cultural identity. Here problems of Hindi are not part of the
main discussion.
I am happy
that the Urdu-knowing community, a multilingual community whose practical and
functional language is Bangla in West Bengal, is on the right path for the
first time. This conference, organized without pressure, offers a suitable
counter to language and cultural ghettoization.
Muslims' electoral pattern in the last Assembly
elections in West Bengal has not been analysed from the perspective of Bangla
and Urdu speakers juxtaposed with Hindi-speaking Indians, obviously Hindus.
Neither has the voting pattern of both linguistic minorities been examined.
BJP-polarised north Indian Hindus who assert their culture, read political
identity through Hindi are always financed by Marwaris. These Hindus voted for
the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They also voted for the BJP in West Bengal
in the last Assembly elections, giving the wrong impression to lazy journalists
and drawing room intellectuals and analysts that the BJP is strengthening its
roots in West Bengal.
Most Hindi
speakers have consistently been voting for the Right Wing political parties
right from the time when the CPI (M) was in power, despite knowing that it had
no political impact. Still, it was their ideological commitment because of
their affiliation with Hindi. It was and is a mirage. No non-Bengali political
party can survive in West Bengal, especially those of hegemonic nature in Urdu
and Hindi. One should remember that despite political boundaries, Bangladesh
and West Bengal are the same.
Thousands
of Bengalis from East Bengal visit Calcutta daily. Because of this,
Urdu-speaking Muslims realised that they should not aggressively assert their
cultural and political identity. The shamefully low turnout for Asaduddin
Owaisi's rallies is the best evidence of this. The result is that this time,
Urdu-speaking Muslims did not choose an Urdu-speaking candidate over a
Bangla-speaking one, even in Muslim-majority Assembly segments. This factor
decisively worked in favour of the TMC.
I did my
fieldwork in West Bengal in 1989, 18 years after the close of the linguistic
disaster that was East Pakistan. The situation was different then. Claiming
itself as an Urdu-speaking community—that it was not—the religious minority of
Muslims was then aggressively batting for Urdu-medium schools. It was the first
year of my MPhil at JNU. I have some understanding of the political disaster in
East Bengal and the very bitter divorce from a subcontinental pan-Islamic
identity as the result of the imposition of Urdu on the Bengali population in
East Pakistan. In 1989, I was sure that the Muslims settled in West Bengal, who
claimed Urdu as their mother tongue and demanded Urdu-medium schools, were
hurtling down a suicidal path. Now good sense has prevailed, as is apparent
from this conference.
This
conference surprised me no end. It spells a U-turn in the political position of
those who now feel an affinity with Bangla, with in most cases not they but
their parents or forefathers had migrated to West Bengal. Busloads from the
suburbs carrying banners of the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) 's West Bengal
branch in Bangla came with only one demand: to include the compulsory teaching
of Bangla in Urdu-medium government schools and recruit additional teachers in
private schools to teach Bangla as a mandatory subject.
It Is A
Very Comforting Development
One of the
biggest auditoria in Kolkata, with a capacity of 2,500, was the venue for the
conference. Since the participation far exceeded capacity, a penalty was
imposed on the organizers, who paid the fine happily. And at least 10,000
people were sitting outside in stationery buses!
This was
not only unusual; it was also fascinating and unbelievable! People who have
been living in West Bengal for at least three generations now realize fully
that teaching Bangla to their kids is a must. Bangla is an integral part of
their identity and a necessity of daily life. In any case, if the facilities
are available, one should not shy away from learning as many languages,
including Urdu, as possible.
The
organizers invited a Bengali minister, among other eminent Urdu-speaking Muslim
politicians. The Bengali minister was outspoken and blamed, rightly so, those
who claimed to be Urduwallahs for demanding Urdu-medium schools in the
past. He equated it to the issue of the imposition of Urdu on Bangladesh
without mincing words. But he felt happy that they are now demanding facilities
for teaching Bangla and promised every help with the changed attitude.
When I
spoke after the Bengali minister, I unconditionally apologized on behalf of the
Urdu-speaking community for this wrong political act of the Muslim League,
adding that the community had lost its way and it was time to look ahead, not
back. I have raised this issue in my writings since as early as 1988. The
minister agreed to give us an audience. Again, without mincing words, when
responding to my submissions, he bitterly said that Anjuman's West Bengal
branch never took up the issue of Bangla seriously in the past, not even with
him. They were very casual and never clear on what they wanted from any
government. He promised that if Anjuman's West Bengal branch is serious, he
would help in every way possible.
We went to
him the next day. In the meantime, quite remarkably, the minister tried to
understand the problem through government channels but failed. In our presence,
he spoke to the Secretary of Education, asking to keep him updated on the
status of the teaching of Bangla in Urdu-medium government schools. Since he is
a votary of Bangla nationalism, he was quite surprised that teachers of Bangla
were not teaching in Urdu schools in West Bengal!!! I am not privy to what the
Secretary of Education said on the phone to the minister. Still, the minister
asked the office bearers of the West Bengal branch of the Anjuman to meet him
after a week for a satisfactory answer. It was no mean achievement.
The Anjuman
has a long relationship with Calcutta, as its first Assistant Secretary was
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in 1903. Apart from other things, he did a lot for the
Anjuman after becoming India's first education minister. Most importantly, he
inculcated nationalist feelings in the organization.
The
Anjuman's West Bengal branch was revived a few years ago, and its officer
bearers infused new life into 49 dead branches and opened 11 new ones. A
commendable feat, to say the least. In the last five years, the Anjuman
arranged a plot of land and built Urdu Ghar, which has only slowly become
functional due to a resource crunch as the funds came from the Urdu-speaking
community, which is poor.
For any
organization's growth, its policies and philosophy are critical. One can agree
that the Anjuman is on the right path now in West Bengal. Let me reiterate that
it is no mean achievement in the present circumstances of extraordinary
political pressures on identity.
------
Ather Farouqui, a PhD from JNU, is the General Secretary
of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind)1882 organisation
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/urdu-bangla-hindi-nationalism-right-wing/d/128890
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism