Row over Urdu language in NT posts
Opposition launches fresh attack, asks NC govt to ensure strong legal representation
Arteev Sharma
Jammu: With Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) deferring the recruitment process for the post of Naib Tehsildar in the revenue department following an interim direction issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today called for the formulation of a policy to train newly-appointed officials in Urdu.
Reacting to the CAT’s directions, Omar said, “Even before Independence, our revenue records were in Urdu. Now, if you appoint revenue staff who do not know how to read the records, What work will they do?
He proposed a balanced approach to language requirements suggesting that those not proficient in Urdu should be given time-bound training. “So it will be better if we make such a policy in which these people are given time to learn Urdu. If people appointed without knowing Urdu then they will not be able to read revenue records,” he said.
Meanwhile, opposition parties launched a fresh tirade to oppose the dropping of the provision of Urdu language as a mandatory subject for NT posts and asked the ruling NC government to ensure “strong legal representation” in the case.
Former Chief Minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti questioned the judgement of CAT saying “our judiciary appears to be influenced by divisive politics”. Without naming the BJP, Mehbooba, like her party colleague Waheed Parra, alleged that “Urdu language was being unfairly communalized”.
“It is deeply unfortunate that our judiciary appears to be influenced by divisive politics. Urdu, a recognised official language for decades, is now being unfairly communalized,” Mehbooba wrote on ‘X’.
She further said, “Our revenue records and administrative work continue to be maintained in Urdu, and it is only logical that applicants for the post of Naib Tehsildar possess basic proficiency in the language. This requirement is rooted purely in administrative efficiency not in any form of divisiveness”.
Joining the chorus, Jammu Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) chief Sajjad Lone said it was the responsibility of the incumbent elected government to give a good legal representation in the case and hoped, while taking a jibe at Omar Abdullah-led government that it was not resorted to “yet another fixed match”.
“So now Urdu is no longer needed to qualify for the post of NT.. The majority Kashmiri speaking population has been almost relegated to a footnote in the recruitment lists. Their presence in the recruitment lists is inversely proportional to their numbers. That is of course due to reservations,” Lone said, adding “Now they may have had a slight advantage in the NT exams and justifiably so, as all revenue records are in Urdu. Now that has been withdrawn too”.
The JKPC chief said, “The onus of giving a good legal representation is on the incumbent elected government. Hope it is not yet another fixed match in a series of fixed matches that we are seeing lately. This is also about gradually exiting Urdu. I have not studied Urdu. And that has been a regret all my life. Urdu is literary delight and some of the greatest poets in the world have expressed themselves in this great language. And to think of enabling linguicide of this great language”. He further said, “This language has an emotional and a historical connect with Kashmiris and that will never go away”.
