Jammu and Kashmir: CM Omar Abdullah denies plan to drop Urdu in revenue jobs, slams PDP over ‘lies’

SRINAGAR: J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah denied Friday having issued any order to remove Urdu from some revenue department jobs while defending a move to seek public feedback for such a move.

PDP functionary and party chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija has hit the streets, accusing the Omar-led National Conference (NC) govt of planning to drop Urdu as a mandatory requirement for such jobs.

“There is no dropping Urdu. God save us from those who cannot see the difference between truth and lies. Unfortunately, this group (PDP) and its leadership see nothing except lies,” Omar, who handles the revenue department, said.

The CM dared PDP to prove its allegations. “We asked them to show us the order under which we have dropped Urdu. What they showed was only an order seeking public comments. They fail to see the difference between seeking public comments and removing a language. She (Iltija ) is young and educated. Do I still need to explain this?” the chief minister asked.

Omar acknowledged that a proposal for Urdu’s removal was on his table. “I do not deny that the proposal came from the department, but I have not cleared it. There is no intention of giving a nod to it,” he said.

Iltija contested the assertions, asking how the CM was even comfortable “seeking feedback” despite knowing the overwhelming sentiment was in favour of Urdu. She alleged that the very act of “seeking opinion” betrayed an intention to initiate the process of striking off Urdu. “We won’t let you erase our history. I don’t need tuition. I’d much rather you use the same energy on cancelling these shambolic ‘opinion poll’ orders to annihilate Urdu,” Iltija said.

The row intensified after the revenue department issued draft recruitment rules for non-gazetted posts on April 10, inviting objections within 15 days. The draft rules set the minimum qualification as “graduation from any university”. Existing norms require graduation and knowledge of Urdu.

Hitting the streets earlier this week, Iltija called the proposed rules an attack on J&K’s linguistic heritage. She later posted a video of late separatist Syed Ali Geelani stressing the importance of Urdu. She wrote that she “may not concur” with Geelani’s ideology but endorsed his arguments about the importance of the language, calling the clip “worth a watch”.

J&K Police have filed an FIR over the clip’s circulation, alleging it promotes “separatist ideology.” Geelani died in 2021. He is heard saying in the video that youths are being deprived of Urdu, a language in which the religious literature “across India, Pakistan and J&K” has been preserved.