Standard Hindustani

Standard Hindustani (Conform Hindoustani) was an artificial standardized variety of the Hindustani language that was created by French administrators for use at the top national level for the French Protectorate of India.

Standard Hindustani was commissioned by the French due to a perceived favoritism for the Muslims of India over the Hindus, due to the use of Urdu over other local dialects. To combat this perception, the French opted to instead replace Urdu with a neutral dialect, created artificially with significant French influence. The French opted to write the new dialect in the Latin alphabet over the local scripts, to continue the theme of neutrality towards all local ethnic groups.

Standard Hindustani was mandated for use in India at the official level in 1920, but was immediately negatively perceived by all the inhabitants of India. Many of the Local Europeans outright refused to use it at all, opting to work and conduct business with the locals entirely in French, increasing the alienation of the locals that Standard Hindustani was created to alleviate.

By 1945, the French reverted back to Urdu, and removed all traces of Standard Hindustani from the government of India.