Gharib Aadmi
First Class Star
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2018
- Runs
- 4,199
I think BD's reluctance to adopt Urdu was reason behind separation. Bengali is much older language and 3 times more people speak it globally, and is a local language to Bangladeshi's.
Bengali along with Urdu was an official language of Pakistan in 1956 constitution. Its similar to India where the govt tried to make Hindi official, and then their were protests the same thing happened in Pakistan.
How many newspapers in Pakistan are printed in Shahmukhi script Punjabi in Pakistani Punjab? Compared to Urdu publications? Why Punjabi is considered a paindoo language in Pakistan and Urdu is considered sophisticated? In India you can be urban sophisticated Punjabi or Paindoo Punjabi. Even Hindu's in Punjab take pride in Punjabi language. Same is true for other states of India. South Indians are very vocal about their stance against imposition of Hindi.
Punjabis in Pakistan are the majority, like Hindi Speakers in India. As the majority they dont need to assert their ethnicity like the minority ethnic groups. However people who speak Punjabi dialects like Seraiki, Mirpuri, Hindko do.
I have noted the same among Hindi Speakers. My ethnicity is Urdu Speaking (that is people who came from UP, Bihar, Deccan, Delhi, etc, whose mother tongue was Urdu). We view ourselves as an ethnic group. Hindi Speakers from what I have seen dont identify their language as an ethnicity. They would identify themselves from the region, or their caste, or their dialect, etc. This is because they are the majority in India. Had they been a minority they would have been more assertive in identifying themselves with their language.
Even Hindu's in Punjab take pride in Punjabi language. Same is true for other states of India. South Indians are very vocal about their stance against imposition of Hindi.
Also almost everyone in Punjab speaks Punjabi. Lahore and Islamabad are multi cultural cities and some families might have switched to Urdu there, however even their the majority would still speak Punjabi.
Alot of my family went to Punjab during partition, and they can all speak Punjabi now.