Editing Bengali language movement (section)

==Background==
The present-day nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of the [[British Raj|British Indian Empire]]. From the mid-19th century, the [[Urdu]] language had been promoted as the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of [[Islam in India|Indian Muslims]] by political and religious leaders, such as [[Khwaja Salimullah|Sir Khwaja Salimullah]], [[Sir Syed Ahmed Khan]], [[Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk]] and [[Maulvi Abdul Haq]].<ref name="urducontrov">{{cite web | url = http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper675 | title = Urdu Controversy – is dividing the nation further | access-date = 20 February 2008 | last = Upadhyay | first = R | date = 1 May 2003 | work = Papers | publisher = South Asia Analysis Group | archive-date = 25 December 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181225042954/http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/paper675%20 | url-status = usurped }}</ref><ref name="B2g">{{cite journal
 | last = Rahman | first = Tariq | year = 1997 | title = The Medium of Instruction Controversy in Pakistan | journal = Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development | volume = 18 | issue = 2 | pages = 145–154 | doi = 10.1080/01434639708666310 | issn = 0143-4632}}</ref> Urdu is a [[Indo-Aryan languages|Central Indo-Aryan language]] of the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian branch]], closely related to [[Hindi]] and belonging to the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] family of languages. It developed under [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Arabic Language|Arabic]] and [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] influence on [[apabhramsha]]s (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language [[Pali]]–[[Prakrit]])<ref>{{cite book |last=Halder |first=Shashwati |year=2012 |chapter=Apabhrangsha |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Apabhrangsha |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> in South Asia during the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and [[Mughal Empire]].<ref name="National Council for Promotion of Urdu language 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.urducouncil.nic.in/pers_pp/index.htm |title=A Historical Perspective of Urdu |publisher=[[National Council for Promotion of Urdu]] language |access-date=15 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611133436/http://www.urducouncil.nic.in/pers_pp/index.htm |archive-date=11 June 2007 }}</ref> With its [[Perso-Arabic script]], the language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims; [[Hindi]] and the [[Devanagari script]] were seen as fundamentals of [[Hinduism|Hindu culture]].<ref name="urducontrov" />

While, the use of Urdu grew common with Muslims in northern India, the Muslims of [[Bengal]] (a province in the eastern part of the British Indian sub-continent) primarily used the Bengali language. Bengali is an [[List of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages|Eastern Indo-Aryan language]] that arose from the eastern [[Middle Indic languages]] around 1000 CE<ref name="bhatta">{{cite book |last=Bhattacharya |first=T |editor=Garry, J. |editor2=Rubino, C. |title=Encyclopedia of World's Languages: Past and Present (Facts About the World's Languages) |year=2001 |publisher=HW Wilson |location=New York |isbn=0-8242-0970-2 |chapter=Bangla}}</ref> and developed considerably with a rich literature, history and cultural identity. Unlike many other Indic Languages, Bengali got patronage from the States and Empires in the Middle Ages. During the [[Bengal Renaissance]], the modern Bengali literature developed its stronghold. Bengalis irrespective of religious identity used Bengali language. Supporters of Bengali opposed Urdu even before the [[partition of India]], when delegates from Bengal rejected the idea of making Urdu the lingua franca of Muslim India in the 1937 [[Lucknow]] session of the [[All-India Muslim League]]. The Muslim League was a [[British India]]n political party that became the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a [[Muslim]] state separate from British India.<ref name="tariqcontrov">{{cite journal
 | last = Rahman | first = Tariq |author-link=Tariq Rahman |date=February 1997
 | title = The Urdu-English Controversy in Pakistan | journal = Modern Asian Studies |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]
 | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 177–207 | issn = 1469-8099
 | doi = 10.1017/S0026749X00016978
 | jstor=312861| s2cid = 144261554 }}</ref>