Hindi For Hindus, Urdu For Muslims: Language Issue Heats Up In Jammu And Kashmir

Language issue has heated up in Jammu and Kashmir with the BJP batting for the use of Hindi in official work and exams, while local Kashmiri politicians and activists are crying hoarse over neglect of Urdu and Kashmiri languages.

The latest row stems from the notification issued by the recruitment body J&K Services Selection Board (SSB) for advertisement of lower-rung officials in the revenue department for the post of naib tehsildars, for which the Urdu language has been kept mandatory. However, the BJP issued a sharp reaction over the matter, contending that this would keep out the students from the Hindu-majority areas of the Jammu region from the jobs.

바카라�We are not against any language. Five languages have been declared as official languages: Urdu, Kashmiri, Hindi, Dogri, and English. We should not thrust one particular language on the aspirants. Anyone who knows Hindi or Dogri should be equally eligible for the posts in the government. We can't discriminate and exclude people just because they know other languages,바카라� said J&K BJP General Secretary Organisation Ashok Koul. 바카라�Hindi is an official language, and steps should be taken at various levels to promote it. The government is doing a lot of things at its own level, like organising the Hindi Diwas, but we can't tolerate policies that are discriminatory to people who know other languages,바카라� he said.

Apart from the political slugfest that the matter has ensued re-opening the divisive debate on 바카라�Urdu for Muslims and Hindi for Hindus바카라�, strong concerns are being raised here by language activists in Kashmir over the neglect of the Kashmiri and Urdu languages.

In Kashmir, besides Urdu being the official language other than   English, the documents are particularly issued in both these languages, and the work in the government offices is also largely being done in these two languages. Urdu, however, remains particularly in use in revenue work and in the police.

바카라�All the work in the revenue department and in the police is being carried out in Urdu. The police reports are prepared in Urdu, as are the revenue documents. We can't do this in Hindi; in fact, measures should be adopted to promote Urdu language alongside other languages,바카라� said Abdul Rashid Hanjura, a lawyer and activist who works for the promotion of the Urdu language.

Dr Nazir Ahmad Dhar, a prominent linguist in Kashmir, said that 바카라�languages have become rich through interaction among people.바카라�

바카라�Kashmiri language has even borrowed words from the English language, like crackdown, militant, which are of common use. Languages have grown.바카라�

He said that Urdu became an official language during the Dogra rule and because people could speak across regions in this language and had no hindrances. Persian was in use in the courts of Dogra rulers, but Urdu was introduced as an official language so that the people from different regions, like Jammu and Ladakh, could speak in one common language. If any of the other languages had been made the official language, there may have been protests from other groups. English also became a supporting language, and we have all the scientific material in this language, so it became necessary even for academics.바카라�

Before the fresh row over the use of Urdu in the exams for naib tehsildar posts, within a year of the abrogation of Article 370 that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, in September 2020 the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, was passed in both the houses of parliament that made Kashmiri, Dogri and English as the official languages of Jammu & Kashmir in addition to the existing Urdu and English.

Across Kashmir, at several places, signboards like the one giving the distances of places have emerged, which, apart from Hindi and Urdu, also display information in English.

National Conference (NC) spokesperson, Imran Nabi Dar, said that there was no point in politicising the issue of languages that the people use. 바카라�Urdu is not the language of the Muslims only, even in Jammu, people read and write in Urdu. BJP has been trying to stoke communal fire by raising such issues,바카라� he said.

PDP Spokesperson Mohit Bhan slammed the BJP for its demand to remove Urdu as a mandatory subject in the Naib Tehsildar exams. 바카라�Urdu is deeply rooted in India's culture and serves as a bridge connecting people of all religions,바카라� he said.