After 1857, Hindi-Urdu controversy was the major assault by the Hindus on Muslim heritage and legacy of the great Muslim empire. Hindus were based against Urdu as it was the Muslim’s language. They demand Hindi as official language replacing Urdu. There were demonstrations against Urdu by the Hindus in Banaras in 1867.It was the start of the Hindi-Urdu controversy.
1) Muslims started a Movement to support Urdu in the 18th century because The Urdu language was born in India. India was considered to be a golden sparrow in term of its fertile land and man power. That’s why lot of invader came to occupy it for different purposes. It so happened that when these different people from different regions of the world came to India, they brought with them, among other things language as well. People like Arabs, Persian and Turks. When mingled with the native people they exchanged many words of their language and thus with this mingling, a new language emerged which was termed Urdu, meaning the language of troops. Since it was formed by the invader of the Muslims world and emerged during the rule of Mughals in India, it was termed as the language of the Muslims and that is why initially it was called Muslamani. Therefore, it had much Importance for Muslims of India.
2) Urdu language was a sign of Muslimas tradition which was using as government language for a long time. The Hindus wanted that Hindi language would be a government language instead of Urdu. In this regard Hindus started a movement from Banaras in 1867.The basic mission of this movement was that all the doors of government jobs for Muslims would be closed. Hindi Urdu controversy had bad effect on mind of Muslims so that Sir Syed Ahmad khan (great leader and a true lover for nation) was also demanded for their rights as a separate nation.
3) Urdu was introduced as an official language of the subcontinent in 1825 which arose Hindu antagonism against Urdu. Urdu Hindi controversy was the first apple of discord which was sown among the two communities of subcontinent.
4) Urdu grew as common language of all the Indians regardless of origin or religion but in 1867 the Hindus campaign to replace Urdu by Hindi. To gain the objectives, they declared numerous organizations, which discouraged Sir Syed who said to Shakespeare that since now both the nations cold not live together. Later the followers of Sir Syed tried their level best to save Urdu language. Mohsin ul Mulk was the outstanding person who organized the Muslims in defense of Urdu.
5) To Muslims in northern and western India, Urdu became an integral part of political identity and communal separatism. The division over the use of Hindi or Urdu would further fuel communal conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India. The All India Muslim League projected Urdu as essential for the political and cultural survival of Islamic society in India. Muslim politicians like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Liaquat Ali Khan emphasized Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and political identity. The political cause of Urdu became a core issue at the heart of the Two-Nation Theory, which advocated that Muslims and Hindus were irreconcilably separate nations. Advocates of the Pakistan movement sought to make Urdu a key argument in drawing distinctions with India’s Hindu-majority population. Muslim religious leaders such as Maulana Mohammad Ali, Maulana Shaukat Ali and Maulana Maududi emphasized the knowledge of Urdu as essential for ordinary and religious Muslims.