Language, religion, and identity: Hindi and Urdu in colonial and post-colonial India.

This paper traces the history of a widening distance and constructed difference between Hindi and Urdu, and their communal identification in colonial and post-colonial India. It examines how majoritarian politics has shaped the language related issues in independent India. Finally, based on limited fieldwork in the Indian city of Mumbai, this paper tries to find out what language does common people speak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]