More Hindu poets of Urdu than Muslims: Sahitya Akademi function

One is fed up of hearing that Urdu has become a language of Muslims in India and that the language has lost favour even amongst the Sikhs and sections of Punjabis who had kept the language close to their heart for decades after partition. That may be true but at the recent Sahitya Akademi Bhasha Awards function, it was clear that at least Urdu literature and poetry has no dearth of non-Muslim writers even today.

In Urdu poetry rendition most of the poets were non-Muslim like Gulzar, Pritpal Singh Betab (from Jammu), Jayant Parmar (from Gujarat), Sheen Kaf Nizam ie Shiv Kumar Nizam (from Rajasthan), Chandrabhan Khayal etc. The Sahitya Akademi president Gopi Chand Narang is considered an authority in Urdu criticism. He was also present there. A lady journalist who had gone to interview the litterateurs was astonished as she thought they were all poets of Hindi.

The poets were also sad at the plight of Urdu. Khayal, who has composed the life of Prophet Muhammad in poetic form recently, was also sad. "No language is identified with religion except Urdu, he said. "Unfortunately Hindu writers are given so much respect amongst Urdu-speakers but most Hindus believe that Urdu is a Muslim language, kuchh halaat hi is mulk ke aise ban gaye hain, kya kiya jaye", he said. "maiN daae'N pahluu baith jaataa huuN to Hindi likhta huuN aur baa'eN pahluu baith jaataa huuN to Urdu jo jaati hai", said Gulzar.