Urdu Born in India, Cannot be Tied to any Religion: SC

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It is a matter of great significance with far reaching implications that the Supreme Court in a most learned, laudable, landmark, logical and latest judgment titled Mrs Varshatai W/o Sh. Sanjay Bagade vs. State of Maharashtra in Case Diary No. 24812 of 2024 and cited in Neutral Citation No.: 2025 INSC 486 that was pronounced as recently as on April 15, 2025 has upheld the use of Urdu on the signboards of a Municipal Council in Maharashtra saying explicitly that Urdu and Marathi have the same status under the Constitution.

It must be noted that the Apex Court while ruling so dismissed the petition that had been filed by Varshatai Sanjay Bagade who was a former councillor of Patur town who had challenged the use of Urdu on the signboards of the Municipal Council of Patur in Akola district of Maharashtra. It was also very rightly pointed out by the top court that with a schism exploited by colonial powers in dividing the two languages on religious lines, Hindi is now understood to be the language of Hindus and Urdu of Muslims - “a pitiable digression from reality; from unity in diversity; and the concept of universal brotherhood.” It was also made indubitably clear by the top court that Urdu was born in India and cannot be tied to any religion.

At the very outset, this refreshing, remarkable, robust, rational and recent judgment authored by Hon'ble Mr Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia for a Bench of Apex Court comprising of himself and Hon'ble Mr Justice K Vinod Chandran sets the ball in motion by first and foremost quoting Mouloud Benzadi who very sagaciously once said famously that, “When you learn a language, you don’t just learn to speak and write a new language. You also learn to be open-minded, liberal, tolerant, kind and considerate towards all mankind.”