“My view remains unaltered especially at this critical juncture in our history,” he writes. “It is wrong to ruffle Muslim or any other person’s feeling when there is no question of ethics (behind mission recognition of Urdu as national script side by side with Nagri). Those who take the trouble of learning Urdu script in addition will surely lose nothing & will gain a knowledge of Urdu script which many of our countrymen know.”

It was the fractious politics of Partition that the communal ownership of Hindi and Urdu was established. Hindi became a Hindu language and Urdu was reduced to be a mere Muslim language — a situation that pained Gandhi. Therefore, in this letter he asks Hindus not abandon the learning of Urdu.

Besides its poetic beauty, Gandhi argues, Urdu could also evolve as medium of short hand. Gandhi writes: “The limitations of this script in terms of perfection are many. But for elegance and grace it will equal any script in the world. It will not die as long at least as Arabic & Persian live, though it has achieved a status all its own without outside aid. With a little adaptation it can serve the purpose of short hand.”

Gandhi aspired to see the most idealistic linguistic scenario: “As a national script if it (Urdu) is set free from the bondage of orthodoxy, it is capable of improvement so as to enable one to transcribe Sanskrit verses without the slightest difficulty.”

And finally, the Father of Nation admonishes his children not to learn bad manners. He tell Hindus: “Those who in anger boycott Urdu script put a wanton affront upon the Muslims of the Union who in the eyes of many Hindus have become aliens in their own land.”

... contd.