The unedited version:
The article by Asad Mirza in THI dated 20th April 2022 (Urdu: Whose language is it?) is a wonderful reminder of the unfortunate divisive narratives in the country based on religion. The post-colonial Indian thinkers and politicians with their narrow understanding of India and its traditions managed to cause equal havoc, if not more, than the colonial rulers. Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Rama, Krishna, and the thousands of Indian scriptures belong to the Indian heritage of thousands of years. Each citizen of India is an equal heir to traditional India with its rich contributions in the fields of philosophy, science, astronomy, architecture, medicine, arts, literature, engineering, and so on. Somehow, all these became ‘Hindu’ in a twisted narrative of the intellectuals based on the alien concept of secularism. Just as there is an unrequired antipathy to the idea of Urdu by the majority of Hindus, there is an unfortunate antipathy and a disowning of all representing an ancient glorious civilization which survives despite severe attacks over millennia. Ironically, the post-colonial intellectual attack on India seems to be more intense and damaging than the colonial one which was both intellectual and physical.
RANDOM MUSINGS 