Urdu in the radio: aspects of identity politics in South Asia
Urdu in the radio: aspects of identity politics in South Asia

Summary/Abstract: Urdu came to be used in the radio in India during the British rule. As the language in its spoken form could veer towards Persianization or Sanskritization, it could be symbolic of Muslim or Hindu identities at a time when these were already under construction and politicization before the partitions of India in 1947. Moreover, the radio could employ people proficient in one or the other variety of Hindi -Urdu (or Hindustani as it was often called) which fed into further mobilization of the competing communal identities. The competition goes on even now, as the language of the radio is subjected to ideological and political imperatives in both India and Pakistan.

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