Fresh row over Urdu, UP's forgotten second official language

Congress CM, ND Tewari, moved the UP Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 1989, granting second official language status to Urdu

- Sunita Aron

Thirty-five years after Uttar Pradesh (UP) adopted Urdu as its second official language, chief minister Yogi Adityanath's speech in the state assembly has revived the contentious issue over the language's status.

It was in September 1989 when the state government, headed by Congress chief minister late Narain Dutt Tewari, moved the Uttar Pradesh Official Languages (Amendment) Act, 1989, granting second official language status to Urdu amid protests by 16 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in a house of 425 members in undivided UP.

The bill stated, 'In the interest of Urdu language and the Urdu speaking people, Urdu shall be used as second official language for such/from time to time.'

The implementation of the act was preceded by communal riots between pro-and anti-Urdu groups in Budayun in central UP, claiming a dozen lives.

State elections were due in October-November 1989, on the eve of which, the state government adopted Urdu as the second official language.

The BJP had started to mobilise Hindu votes in the name of the Ram temple movement at the same time when the Urdu language controversy blew up.

The BJP members, led by Rajendra Kumar Gupta, held a night-long protest in the well of the state assembly, which spilled over to the next day.

Gupta said the move will disturb communal harmony in the state; the Budayun clashes was just an example.

The bill, moved by then parliamentary affairs minister Ammar Rizi, was passed within 15 minutes amid protests by the opposition including the Janata Dal members who were demanding a discussion on Budayun riots.