The Arab Spring and the Indian Urdu Press

63 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVI, No.1, Fall 2012 The Arab Spring and the Indian Urdu Press Mohamed Muddassir Quamar* The Arab world is going through a kind of churning for more than one year. Several social, economic, cultural and political factors including corruption, unemployment and bad governance have been cited as the underlying reasons for this unrest.1 The changes might not result in shortterm political stability or long-term ushering in of democracy to the Arab countries. While the outcome remains uncertain, rulers and governments in the region have to become more accountable, have to pave way for reforms or face being overthrown. The developments in the region began after the self-immolation of Tunisian street vendor Muhammad Bouazizi in December 2010. It triggered a massive protest against the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The “Jasmine Revolution”, as it was termed by many, had a domino effect on other countries and is collectively known as the Arab Spring.2 The events were widely covered by Arab, regional and international media. How was Arab Spring reflected in the Urdu media in India, where there lives the third largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan?3 Historically, India has strong political, economic, cultural and *Md Muddassir Quamar is a Doctoral Candidate at the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. 1 Sean Foley, “The Arab Awakening and the New Disorder of Hope”, Occasional Paper, Middle East Institute, New Delhi, October 3, 2011, http://mei.org.in/front/cms/ publicationsDetail.php?id=MzA3&cid=Ng==. 2 There are criticisms over the expression Arab Spring. For example see, Rami G. Khouri, “Drop the Orientalist term “Arab Spring””, August 17, 2011, http://www.dailystar.com.lb/ Article.aspx?id=146410#axzz1v74UhBNx. 3 “The Future of the Global Muslim Population: An Interactive Feature, Sortable Data Tables: Muslim Population by Country”, The PEW Forum on Religion & Public Life, January 2011, http://features.pewforum.org/muslim-population/. 64 energy relations with the region.4 The presence of an estimated six million Indian expatriate population in the region makes it strategically very important for India. Seen in this wider context this research looks at the Urdu press in India and their coverage and responses to the “Arab Spring”. Urdu Media in India The Muslim-Urdu linkage is highly debated within India.5 Many leaders see this as the communalization of language and culture and periodically warn against such tendencies.6 According to the preliminary 2011 census figures, India’s Muslim population stands at 150 million and that of Urdu speaking population at 55 million.7 In other words, Urdu is not the lingua franca of every Muslim in India. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that over time, especially since the partition of the sub-continent, popular perceptions about the linkage has strengthened. While it is not the exclusive language of the Indian Muslims, a significant majority of Urduspeaking population are Muslims. This Urdu speaking population is spread all over the country from Kashmir in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South and from Assam in the East to Gujarat in the West. The nature and extent of influence of this population upon India’s policy is debatable but political developments in the Middle East generate considerable interest, attention and at times protest from the Muslim community. India’s policy towards the Arab world as well as towards the three non-Arab countries of the region, namely, Iran, Israel and Turkey, are widely debated within the community. Therefore, the Urdu press can be seen as one of the most important medium of expression for the Indian Muslim population. There are more than a dozen major national and regional Urdu dailies/periodicals published from different parts of the country. These newspapers in comparison to other regional language dailies devote more attention to the developments in the Middle East. The Arab Spring has also been 4 For details see, S. Maqbul Ahmad, Indo-Arab Relations: An Account of India”s Relations with the Arab World from Ancient up to Modern Times (New Delhi: ICCR, 1969); and Prithvi Ram...