New Delhi, July 2 -- Former Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday asserted that Urdu is an Indian language and did not originate outside the country, while recalling the education reforms undertaken during the NDA government led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Addressing a public gathering, Joshi said, "Urdu is a language of our country; it did not come from outside."

He further said that during the Vajpayee government, the Centre wanted Muslims to read the Quran in Urdu instead of Arabic.

Reflecting on his tenure as Human Resource Development Minister, Joshi said earlier versions of Indian history contained several inaccuracies. He claimed that the Vedas had been wrongly interpreted a...