Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said it was a “big mistake” not to make the freedom struggle a compulsory subject in all languages in 1947. He said that this gave an opportunity to people to question each other’s patriotism and their contribution towards the country. Azad claimed in a program organized here on the occasion of 200 years of Urdu journalism that the governments do not consider it appropriate to give advertisements to Urdu newspapers. He said, ‘I do not blame any one government for this. No government, no party takes it forward when it comes to promoting Urdu and giving advertisements to Urdu newspapers.
Former Vice President Hamid Ansari was also present in the program. He said, “In the 200-year history of Urdu journalism, apart from the last 75 years, 125 years were of slavery. At that time it was very difficult to say newspaper or anything. He said, ‘Urdu is no longer just the language of India or the subcontinent, but it has become a global language. Urdu is being taught and taught in all the countries from Australia to America. Ansari said that a strange situation has arisen in his country that the number of people studying Urdu is decreasing.
He said, ‘Jawaharlal Nehru said many times that Urdu is our language, yet it did not get what he wanted.’ Azad also said, ‘Urdu is slowly shrinking as compared to other languages. English is at its peak, has reached door to door. Providing training in English is necessary in a way, but Urdu has ended with it. The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that Urdu journalists and Urdu speakers have made sacrifices in the freedom struggle, but people are not aware of it. He said, ‘In 1947, we made a big mistake. The freedom struggle should have been made a compulsory subject, but we made English and maths a compulsory subject.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said – the history of independence was to be taught in every language
Azad said, ‘We should have made the history of India’s independence a compulsory subject and should have made it in every language. With this today no one asks (from another person) who are you? Are you from here or outside? What has been your part in this country?” All India Urdu Editors’ Conference chief and Congress leader Meem Afzal said that after independence some people deliberately made Urdu the language of Muslims. He said that before independence there were 415 Urdu newspapers and after partition 70 newspapers went to Pakistan. Afzal said, ’80 percent of the vote of Urdu journalism was with India and 20 percent with Pakistan.’