BANGALORE: Governor H R Bhardwaj on Monday called upon universities to stop restricting Urdu language to a particular religion and community and urged educational institutions to give priority for enriching the language that has reflected the country’s culture from centuries.Speaking after inaugurating a national seminar on Perspective Urdu Fiction and Poetry Post 1985 organised jointly by Karnataka Urdu Academy and Department of Urdu Studies, Bangalore University at Jnana Jyothi auditorium, he said Urdu had contributed to the country’s culture and dealt with problems of the people, sympathised with their sorrows and touched many hearts. “Only ignorant people could say Urdu belongs to the Muslim community. Urdu originated in this very land. It is not an alien language for people to disown or treat it as a second class language,” said Bhardwaj. “The universities and colleges are according priority to Kannada, English and Sanskrit, but the same treatment is not given to Urdu,” he regretted. Referring to Urdu writers such as Allama Iqbal, Mirza Ghalib, Faiz Ahmed, he said, “Their contribution is as important as contributions of other language writers to the country’s literary tradition. Please don’t limit Urdu to one religion and community,” he said.Cultural development of a country is not possible with a rigid mind set. Literary tradition can be enriched only by producing rich literary works that delineate on the problems, plights, pains and penury of the people, he observed.In his presidential address, Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Dr N Prabhu Dev said, “Steps have been taken to strengthen the Department of Urdu Studies.”
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