Julien Columeau is a French author and academic. He has written extensively in Urdu, including Derrida Haramda Aur Doosri Kahaniyan [published in English as Derrida in Lahore], which received the Susannah Hunnewell Prize from the Paris Review.
His fictional works are mostly in Urdu. Linguistic Resistance in Pakistan — Punjabi Language Movements After Independence is his first English non-fiction title. It focuses on movements that took root in Punjab in response to the Pakistani government’s imposition of Urdu as the national language shortly after the country’s creation.
The book examines three distinct language movements that were formed between 1947 and 1960 and Columeau divides his historical analysis, charting the trajectories of three specific groups: the Marxist Punjabi Movement (1947-1959), the Conservative Punjabi Movement (1950-1960) and the Punjabi Modernist Movement (1957-1959). He examines the dynamics of these resistance movements and their converging interests and conflicting approaches towards promoting and protecting Punjabi.
Using an interdisciplinary method, he presents a rare look into the dynamics of post-Partition Punjab, its literary culture of resistance, and the intense political fault lines that influenced each movement.
Columeau begins his book by outlining the pre-existing antagonism between Punjabi and Urdu writers. He explains, “The diglossic situation that prevailed before Punjab’s annexation, with Persian being considered high and Punjabi low, was transformed by the British into an English/Urdu/Punjabi triglossia, which survives today in Pakistani Punjab.” Columeau presents evidence in detail about Punjabi’s status during the colonial period, where it faced formidable opponents in the shape of English civil servants and the Muslim ruling class who had not only absorbed the prejudices of British officials but also deemed to differentiate their community from that of the Sikhs, a direct result of growing communal polarisation.
A work of linguistic and intellectual history shines a light on the marginalisation of Punjab’s language in newly independent Pakistan and addresses the effects of polarisation within Punjabi society as a whole
In a pre-Partition Punjab, Punjabi had few allies and they were not as influential as its opponents. The Sikh intellectuals’ movement gained traction in the face of the rejection of Punjabi by Muslim elites as well as the Hindu community. Sikh intellectuals stood firm in their attempt to defend and promote Punjabi. They played an important part in reviving Punjabi literature, as they realised that Punjabi’s role in a colonial administrative and educational sphere would remain limited.
They were supported by Muslim and Christian writers who wrote Punjabi in the Persian script (Shahmukhi) and took up the cause of a modernised face of Punjabi literature. What is important to note here is that Muslim and Christian writers turned towards the adoption of popular Urdu literary poetic genres such as ghazal and nazm.
Columeau also acknowledges the contribution, as limited as it was, of European philologists who recognised the value of Punjabi, which “highlighted the richness, complexity, importance and archaic origins of a language that its opponents considered a mere ‘patois’ and likened to the ‘grunts’ of the deaf and mute.” However, none of these movements would hold their fort in a post-Partition Punjab.
The official ‘Urduisation’ of Punjab after Partition gained traction almost immediately. Columeau highlights how the replacement of English with Urdu in education was taken up as a matter of urgency and as the first step towards decolonisation. In Punjab, the provincial government enthusiastically took up the cause of Urdu replacing Punjabi.
Intellectual and political heavyweights such as Abdul Rab Nishtar, M.D. Taseer (Urdu poet, critic and one of the pioneers of the Urdu movement), Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Maulana Salahuddin and Molvi Abdul Haq were amongst those who proposed Urdu as the national language. Punjabi was thought of as an underdeveloped language.
Columeau analyses how supporters of Urdu considered it an endangered language, one that needed sheltering after mass Muslim migration from India and the adoption of Hindi. However, this move faced immense backlash, especially from Bengali activists, who were swift and unified in their response and also consisted of a majority of the population of Pakistan. This encouraged regional language activists from other provinces to resist the nationalisation of their linguistic culture and, while they did not see the same success as their compatriots in East Pakistan, they still managed to gain significant ground compared to Punjab.
Columeau also acknowledges the contribution, as limited as it was, of European philologists who recognised the value of Punjabi, which “highlighted the richness, complexity, importance and archaic origins of a language that its opponents considered a mere ‘patois’ and likened to the ‘grunts’ of the deaf and mute.” However, none of these movements would hold their fort in a post-Partition Punjab.
Columeau examines the intellectual landscape of post-Partition Punjab, which was different from the other provinces where strong regional and ethnic sentiments prevailed. An important aspect to consider is that, after the Sikh exodus, Punjabi was not taught anywhere. Columeau records, “Many people in Pakistani Punjab believed that the Punjabi language was a vestige of the Sikh presence and no longer had any reason to survive.”
Add to this the many inherited prejudices against Punjabi that were common not only among Punjabi Muslims but also among Urdu-speaking ‘mohajirs’, who had recently migrated to Punjab. Despite such strong opposition, Punjabi linguistic resistance did gain some momentum.
Columeau’s extensive research illustrates the unique challenges faced by all three language movements in Punjab. Between 1948 and 1959, Pakistani Marxists produced a rich body of poems, essays and short stories. “Punjabi soon became not only a medium of expression for revolutionary and Marxist ideology but also the vehicle for a dialogue between the working class and progressive poets.”
Despite this, the Marxist Punjabi Language Movement remained under constant threat of being banned or jailed. Of all three movements, the Marxists faced the most state-led persecution. This feels eerily similar to the present day, as the state continues to persecute any such regional movement that may attempt to undermine its narrative.
The Conservative and Modernist Punjabi language movements faced their own set of challenges. And while the Conservatives fared far better than the Marxists, their success was not as far-reaching or impactful as they would have wanted it to be. Columeau evaluates: “They did not form — unlike the Sindhi and Bengali groups — a strong front that could put pressure on the state. The Punjabi groups were constantly competing against one another. The biggest hurdle facing the Punjabi movements… was the lasting impact of the communalisation of Punjabi society during the colonial period, as a result of which Punjabi Hindus supported Hindi, Punjabi Muslims Urdu and Sikhs Punjabi.”
Julien Columeau’s book is extremely important. As a Punjabi, it had a profound effect on me as I found myself not only being educated on the linguistic history of what was once my mother tongue but also mourning its loss. This is a phenomenal work that shines a light on a largely ignored aspect of literary discourse and addresses the adverse effects of polarisation within Punjabi society as a whole.
By utilising previously unexamined archives in both Urdu and Punjabi, alongside personal interviews with regional activists and intellectuals, Julien Columeau has produced a book that serves as a definitive, academic contribution to South Asian intellectual history.
The reviewer is a freelance writer with a background in law and literature.
X: @ShehryarSahar
Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, June 28th, 2026