ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the compelling force of language politics in north India around Hindi–Urdu and its role in the furthering the cause of Hindu nationalism. It cites evidence to show that despite the three-language formula compromise, UP’s Congress leaders hard fought to stop Urdu from becoming a regional language. Rather they were at the forefront of making Hindi the Rashtriya bhasha along with other civil society organizations highlighting the anti-national character of Urdu. In doing so, they encouraged the continuance of a separate Hindi and Urdu public sphere post 1947 and allowed Hindi to develop at the cost of Urdu which continued to decline because of its failure to be taught at the primary stage of education. This had to do with the larger anti-Urdu tendencies within the Congress as well as the anti-Urdu crusade of the Jan Sangh.
