BJP seeks to drop Urdu from J&K recruitment exam, NC and PDP allege cultural erasure

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand to make the knowledge of Urdu non-mandatory in the upcoming Nab Tehsildar exam in Jammu and Kashmir has drawn criticism from the ruling National Conference and the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who have claimed the move amounts to cultural erasure, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Through a notification issued on Monday regarding the recruitment of 75 revenue posts, the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board had told candidates that their “working knowledge of Urdu” would be assessed in one of the exams.

Since Urdu is commonly used in revenue records, land settlements, court rulings, and legal correspondence in the Union Territory, a basic understanding of the language is considered essential for revenue-related roles, according to The Indian Express.

On Thursday, BJP MLA Sunil Sharma, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and the Hindutva party’s state unit president Sat Sharma met with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha seeking intervention in the matter.

Sunil Sharma reportedly told Sinha that as the Union Territory has five official languages, making only one of those mandatory for the exam “violates the constitutional principles of equal opportunity and administrative impartiality”.

He claimed this would create “an unfair barrier, particularly disadvantaging aspirants from the Jammu Division”, reported The Indian Express.

The National Conference and...

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