Javed Akhtar was handed the topic of the Urdu script problem. He opened by saying there is no problem with the script at all. In this Jashn-e-Rekhta session, Javed Akhtar sits with journalist Pervaiz Alam, former BBC Hindi broadcaster, for a sharp conversation on the Rasm-ul-Khat debate. His central point is simple. Script and language are not the same thing. Punjabi is written in three scripts and stays Punjabi. English, French and German all use the Roman script, yet none of them is Latin. What makes a language is its grammar, and Hindi and Urdu share the exact same grammar, a bond he calls unprecedented.

He takes apart the idea that Urdu is foreign or that it belongs to one religion, pointing to Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam and the everyday words no Hindi dictionary can do without. He talks about the shrinking vocabulary in films and daily speech, the class snobbery around speaking your own language well, and the warning of Turkey, where switching scripts cut a generation off from its own manuscripts.

By the end he makes his real case. Keep all three scripts alive, Nastaliq, Devanagari and Roman, but never let the Urdu script be quietly dropped. He closes with a recitation of his nazm Zindagi.

Javed Akhtar & Pervaiz Alam on the Urdu Script Debate

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भारतीय ज्ञान परंपरा या RSS का कोई छुपा हुआ एजेंडा? Indian Knowledge System: प्रो. पुरुषोत्तम अग्रवाल

Ravish Kumar: आपके पास सत्ता है पर ताकत नहीं.. बहुतों को डराया जा सकता है.. उस डर का आप क्या करेंगे जिससे आप खुद डरे हुए हैं..

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