Is Urdu the language of Indian Muslims alone?

Rakshanda Jalil has recently translated a collection of Urdu stories by non-Muslim writers into English

- Somak Ghoshal

Urdu scholar and translator Rakshanda Jalil's new collection Whose Urdu is it Anyway? is linked by one theme: to challenge the notion that Urdu is the language of Muslim writers alone, especially in a pluralist country like India.

She brings together 16 stories by non-Muslim writers who wrote in Urdu, most of whom were born in the early years of the 20th century, and achieved varying degrees of fame during their lifetimes. From Krishan Chandar (1914-77), one of the key figures of the Progressive Writers' Association, to the much-loved Gulzar (b. 1934), the volume features a range of styles and sensibilities to illustrate a powerful sentiment: "...as long as Urdu is yoked to religion—Islam—and a certain community—Muslims—it will never be understood in its entirety," Jalil writes in the introduction.

Urdu, along with its spoken variant Hindustani, was ubiquitous in public life once upon a time, especially all over the north of the Vindhyas. In the south, it still survives in the form of Dakhini, but in the last decade, the language is less visible and heard in the public domain. The written form of the language is no longer ubiquitous on signages, cinema titles and names of railway stations. Instead, Urdu has become politicised and framed as a language of appeasement.

Jalil's selection defies the Islamic exclusivity of Urdu. While a substantial body of fiction written in the language deals with Partition and its aftermath, writers like Devendar Issar, in his story Mortuary, and Surendra Prakash in Scarecrow focus on the plight of the poor and downtrodden.

Renu Behl's