Urdu is one of the languages recognized by the Constitution of India. It is a state official language for five Indian states. India is the home of the Urdu language and is part of its indigenous culture. It was developed by mixing of cultures in areas such as Delhi, Lucknow in UP and Hyderabad and Urdu literature has also been enriched by hindus and sikhs. Moreover, out of the approximately 60+ million Urdu speakers in the world, 50+million are in India.
So its quite natural to have Urdu after Hindi as a language being used by Israeli embassy to reach out to all Indians. Maybe in the future we might see other languages as well.
Pardon my ignorance, which other Indian states have given Urdu official status? I was aware that Urdu as written in the Urdu script is official language of Kashmir only but of none other.
Besides, I have across Urdu books written in India in Devanagri script. I call this ‘Hindiization’ of Urdu since some of the common Urdu alphabets such as ‘P’ are pronounced as ‘f’ thus ‘phool’ is pronounced as ‘fool’ and ‘Z’ sounds like ’J’; I had to correct my guide for Taj Mahal many times who insisted on pronouncing Mumtaz Mahal as Mumtaj Mahal.
Despite that above, as an Urdu lover I am really pleased about the use of proper Urdu script in the Israel Embassy website. It reminds me of the poet Daagh Dehlavi who said:
‘Urdu hai jis ka naam, subhee jaantey hain Daagh.
Saarey jehan mein dhhoom hamaari zubaan ki hai.
Pray tell me, how can you claim that out of the 60+ million Urdu speakers, 50+ live in India. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, nearly all speak and understand Urdu. A lot of Karachiites, Hyderabadis and Lahoris speak Urdu at home. I would say that there are as many Urdu speakers in Pakistan as are in India. As far as the accent and pronunciation is concerned, I have visited Delhi, Agraa and Bombay, I found that most Pakistanis speak clearer Urdu than those from India. I have also came across people from Lukhnow, quite a few of them spoke Urdu with a 'Poorbi' accent. However, it gives me great joy that Urdu is still alive and kicking in India.