<P> The most immediate reason for the controversy is believed to be the contradictory language policy in North India in the 1860s . Although the then government encouraged both Hindi and Urdu as a medium of education in school, it discouraged Hindi or Nagari script for official purposes . This policy gave rise to conflict between students educated in Hindi or Urdu for the competition of government jobs, which eventually took on a communal form . </P> <P> In 1867, some Hindus in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during the British Raj in India began to demand that Hindi be made an official language in place of Urdu . Babu Shiva Prasad of Banares was one of the early proponents of the Nagari script . In a Memorandum on court characters written in 1868, he accused the early Muslim rulers of India for forcing them to learn Persian . In 1897, Madan Mohan Malaviya published a collection of documents and statements titled Court character and primary education in North Western Provinces and Oudh, in which, he made a compelling case for Hindi . </P> <P> Several Hindi movements were formed in the late 19th and early 20th century; notable among them were Nagari Pracharini Sabha formed in Banaras in 1893, Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Allahabad in 1910, Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha in 1918 and Rashtra Bhasha Prachar Samiti in 1926 . The movement was encouraged in 1881 when Hindi in Devanagari script replaced Urdu in Persian script as the official language in neighboring Bihar . They submitted 118 memorials signed by 67,000 people to the Education Commission in several cities . The proponents of Hindi argued that the majority of people spoke Hindi and therefore introduction of Nagari script would provide better education and improve prospects for holding Government positions . They also argued that Urdu script made court documents illegible, encouraged forgery and promoted the use of complex Arabic and Persian words . </P> <P> Organisations such as Anjuman Taraqqi - e-Urdu were formed for the advocacy of Urdu . Advocates of Urdu argued that Hindi scripts could not be written faster, and lacked standardisation and vocabulary . They also argued that the Urdu language originated in India, asserted that Urdu could also be spoken fluently by most of the people and disputed the assertion that official status of language and script is essential for the spread of education . </P>

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