India News | 'Big Mistake' Not to Make Freedom Struggle Compulsory Subject in All Languages: Azad

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said it was a "big mistake" not to make India's freedom struggle a compulsory subject in all languages ??in 1947 as it allowed people to question each other's patriotism and commitment to the country.

At a programme organised here marking 200 years of Urdu journalism, he claimed that governments do not consider it appropriate to give advertisements to Urdu newspapers.

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"I do not blame any one government for this. No government, no party promotes Urdu and giving advertisements to Urdu newspapers," he said.

In the programme, former vice president Hamid Ansari said, "In the 200-year history of Urdu journalism, apart from the last 75 years, 125 years were of slavery."

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"In those days it was very difficult for newspapers to say anything," he said.

"Urdu is no longer just the language of India or the subcontinent, but it has become a global language. Urdu is being taught in all the countries from Australia to America," he said.

Ansari said that a strange situation has arisen in his country that the number of people reading Urdu is declining.

Azad, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that Urdu journalists and Urdu speakers have made sacrifices in the freedom struggle, but people are not aware of it.

"In 1947, we made a big mistake. The freedom struggle should have been made a compulsory subject, but we made English and Mathematics compulsory," he said.

"We should have made the history of the independence movement of India a compulsory subject and should have done so in every language. With this, no one today would have asked (from another person) who are you? Are you from here or outside? What is your part in this country?" he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)