History of Muslim Press in Sub-Continent – Part Two

History of Muslim Press in Sub-Continent – Part Two

Continued from the previous part …

By the start of the 19^th century, Muslims had lost control of India and these were the dying moments of Muslim rule in the sub-continent but Muslims were not ready to accept it mentally after such a long rule in India. That is why they always
took the British as their enemy, whereas the Hindus took advantage of the situation and got very close to the British by showing them their loyalty. All this caused the British to always give the first priority to the Hindus in every field as they started
to adopt the western lifestyle as well.

There was an impression within the British that Muslims were behind the 1857 revolt (mutiny) and they tempted the Hindus and Sikhs as well. The British started to take Muslims as their real enemy. This impression amongst the British was enough to rub salt
into the wounds of the Muslims. Muslims were deprived of the better job opportunities and their financial situation got extremely poor. Considering the state of Muslims after the 1857 revolt, it was very important for the Muslim newspapers, magazines and press
in general to start creating awareness amongst the Muslims about the importance of education and the modern lifestyle. One of the major reasons behind this was the fear amongst the educated Muslims that the Hindus might get closer to the British Government,
which would give them political benefit.

Urdu journalism started in India with Jam-e-Jahan Numa but the real role and history of Urdu press started in 1836, when Maulvi Muhammad Baqar started “Delhi Urdu Akhbar”. After 1836, large number of Urdu newspapers started their operations
from different parts of the Sub-continent and the main purpose behind Urdu journalism was to create awareness amongst the Muslims, who were slowly but gradually losing control of India.

In 1830, East India Company declared Urdu as the official language of small government institutions and court of law. Government intended to promote Western Studies in the sub-continent. Since Urdu newspapers were appropriate medium for the purpose, the
government used to purchase a certain quantity of newspapers for officials, schools and colleges. The government financially supported some of the newspapers.

To be continued …

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Dec 6 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry