Did Urdu replace Hindi as official language of Jammu and Kashmir? Time to decode Mahua Moitra’s false claims in Parliament!
On February 3rd, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in her speech in Lok Sabha accused the Centre of wanting to “alter history.” However, she herself ended up doing so by making some false claims in the Parliament. The MP alleged that the government had replaced Urdu with Hindi as the first and official language of Jammu and Kashmir, which is outright misrepresentation of facts. Ironical? Let’s dive into Moitra’s statement which not only “alters history” but also represents the carelessness with which such bold lies were stated as facts without actually doing any fact check.
“The INA’s (Indian National Army) motto were three Urdu words – ittehad, itmad aur qurbani – unity, trust and sacrifice. The same Urdu language that this government is so delighted to replace with Hindi as the first and official language of Jammu and Kashmir,” Moitra said in her fiery speech.
The fact is, Urdu never ‘replaced’ Hindi as the official language of Jammu and Kashmir, but English, Hindi and native languages Dogri and Kashmiri were added as the official languages of the Union Territory. The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 which was introduced in Lok Sabha on September 22, 2020 clearly states that Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English are the official languages of Jammu & Kashmir.
Moitra’s claims created a furore on social media. Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul went on to twitter and said, “Mahua Moitra should know that Urdu is not the language of Jammu & Kashmir. Kashmiri and Dogri are our languages and majority of people in Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir speak Hindi. Hindi isn’t being imposed. Urdu was being imposed. No tears to save the Sharda Script? #Shame.”
Political commentator Sunanda Vashisht also criticised Moitra and shared her sentiments on social media. “Just heard @MahuaMoitra speech. Amongst the plethora of lies she peddled, I heard her saying ‘Govt replaced Urdu as first and official language of Jammu and Kashmir with Hindi”. Does Mahua know anything about J&K? Urdu is an imposition on people of J&K. Urdu is not our language,” Vashisht said. She further invited Moitra to read a few books and speak to few people from of J&K. “I don’t understand why no tears for Kashmiri ? It got official recognition only in 2020,” Vashisht added.
It is true that the Bill no where mentions that Urdu is being removed and Hindi is being added instead as an official language of the union territory. And thus Moitra’s claims are clearly problematic, especially from the standpoint that these claims were made with such extreme confidence!