Supreme Court upholds Urdu signage in Maharashtra, calls it ‘finest specimen of Hindustani culture’

Supreme Court on Urdu Signboard: Upholding the use of Urdu on the signboard of a municipal council building in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said language is culture and must not become a cause for dividing people, and Urdu “is the finest specimen of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, or the Hindustani tehzeeb”.

The bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s finding that the use of Urdu is not prohibited under the Maharashtra Local Authorities (Official Languages) Act, 2022, or in any provision of law.

A former councillor had filed a petition challenging the use of Urdu on the signboard of the Patur Municipal Council building in Akola district of Maharashtra.

“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 said.

The court said it is a “misconception that Urdu is alien to India”, adding that “it is a language which was born in this land”.

Writing for the bench, Justice Dhulia elaborated on the bench’s views on Urdu and languages in general. “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,” said the judgment.

“Language is culture. Language is the yardstick to measure the civilisational march of a community and its people. So is the case of Urdu, which is the finest specimen of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, or the Hindustani tehzeeb, which is the composite cultural ethos of the plains of northern and central India,” it said.

“Before language became a tool for learning, its earliest and primary purpose will always remain communication,” Justice Dhulia said. “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,” the court said.

“We must respect and rejoice in our diversity, including our many languages. India has more than hundred major languages. Then there are other languages known as dialects or ‘mother tongues’ which also run into hundreds. According to the 2001 Census, India had a total of 122 major languages including the 22 scheduled languages, and a total of 234 mother tongues. Urdu was the sixth most spoken scheduled language of India. In fact, it is spoken by at least a part of the population in all States and Union Territories, except perhaps in our North-Eastern States,” it said.

“In the 2011 Census, the number of mother tongues increased to 270. However, it is to be noted that this number was also arrived at by taking into consideration only those mother tongues which had more than 10,000 speakers. Thus, it would not be wrong to say that the actual number of mother tongues in India would run into thousands. Such is the immense linguistic diversity of India,” it said.

“The prejudice against Urdu stems from the misconception that Urdu is alien to India. This opinion, we are afraid, is incorrect as Urdu, like Marathi and Hindi, is an Indo-Aryan language. It is a language which was born in this land. Urdu developed and flourished in India due to the need of people belonging to different cultural milieus who wanted to exchange ideas and communicate amongst themselves. Over the centuries, it attained… greater refinement and became the language of choice for many acclaimed poets,” it said.