FaujHistorian
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I don't wanna go there,Just expressing my opinion.Other trigger might be the decline of Mughal empire.All these big names from Lahore came only in 19th and 20th century.After the fall of Mughal Empire patronage given to Education in central India significantly declined on the other hand at the similar period Lahore has seen the establishment of some prestigious educational institutions.There were a few other institutions like this in central India Aligarh Muslim University and Allahabad University both in UP.Later on Jamia Milia came along.But I reckon oldest and most prestigious of them all was the University of Punjab and unlike erstwhile United Provinces Punjab provided more conducive environment for academics.
Urdu was encouraged by Brits from day 1.
Our sarkari baboo Akbar Alahbadi's discussion with his gora boss is on record.
The reason why Brits were encouraging Urdu was simple.
It was the language of pro-British troops from Punjab and Hindko speaking Pashtuns (although "being a Pashtun" may get tied only to Pashto speakers. but that's a separate discussion).
Without the contribution of these troops, it is likely that Brits would have suffered much bigger losses to their tiny numbers in 1857. And brits wanted to use Urdu language to setup cohesiveness of all the troops, even those who were not Panjabi or Pashtuns.
Urdu is lashkari or military language from many many centuries. And most of the troops even before Brits came from northren Punajb and settled area of KP (former Frontier).
This is why Urdu is so close in pretty much every way to its mother tongue of Punjabi.
Just compare telagu with Punjabi and Urdu and you will figure this out.
I realize that I am delving into some emotional period of 1850s. But then which period is NOT emotional.
This is why my analysis tends to focus on events and not some religious or nationalist mumbo jumbo.