HistoryModern India: Framing the Constitution

Consider the following statements about the changes in Hindustani bef…

Consider the following statements about the changes in Hindustani before Independence:

(A) As communal conflicts deepened, Hindi and Urdu also started growing apart.
(B) Language became associated with the politics of religious identities.
(C) From the end of the eighteenth century, Hindustani as a language had been gradually changing.
(D) Mahatma Gandhi retained his faith in the composite character of Hindustani.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → A, B and D only

(A) As communal conflicts deepened, Hindi and Urdu also started growing apart. — Correct. Deepening communal conflicts made Hindi and Urdu grow apart.

(B) Language became associated with the politics of religious identities. — Correct. Hindi was Sanskritised and Urdu Persianised. As a result, language became tied to religious identities.

(C) From the end of the eighteenth century, Hindustani as a language had been gradually changing. — Incorrect. The change began from the end of the nineteenth century. The century in the statement is wrong.

(D) Mahatma Gandhi retained his faith in the composite character of Hindustani. — Correct. Even as the two languages drifted apart, Gandhi kept his faith in the composite character of Hindustani.

NCERT (2026-27): “5. The Language of the Nation …
From the end of the nineteenth century, however, Hindustani as a language had been gradually changing. As communal conflicts deepened, Hindi and Urdu also started growing apart. On the one hand, there was a move to Sanskritise Hindi, purging it of all words of Persian and Arabic origin. On the other hand, Urdu was being increasingly Persianised. As a consequence, language became associated with the politics of religious identities. Mahatma Gandhi, however, retained his faith in the composite character of Hindustani.”