Neha
JAMMU, June 21: The BJP-led Government's directive asking central Government employees to use Hindi while posting tweets or messages on social media has not been appreciated by a number of political leaders. Hindi is our national language. It was earlier this week that a news report had said that the central Government has directed its employees and employees of central undertakings and banks to use Hindi or both Hindi and English on their official web pages in social media like Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Google.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Chief Karunanidhi has opposed the move. It termed the move as the beginning of imposition of Hindi. On Friday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithha, Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah and CPI-M leader Brinda Karat also opposed the move. As for the desperate and issueless Omar Abdullah who is doing all that he could to remain in the news and cultivate his alienated communal constituency in Kashmir, said that "India is a diverse country as far as religion and languages are concerned" and that "the imposition of one language must not be acceptable". Yes, India is a diverse country as far as religion and languages are concerned and the authorities must respect this fact and honour the sensitivities of the people. This is not to suggest that Hindi should not be promoted and English language should not be discouraged. Hindi has to be promoted. But Omar Abdullah should know that Jammu and Kashmir is also diverse as far as religion, languages and political perceptions are concerned. Even in Kashmir, many languages are spoken and there are people who belong to various religious sects. The story of Jammu and Ladakh is no different. Both these regions houses people who speak different languages and profess religions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism. Similarly, the political aspirations of the people of the state are not the same; they are contradictory and even mutually exclusive. For example, the people of Jammu province and Ladakh, barring some, and all the Kashmiri Hindus are vehemently opposed to Article 370, saying it has not only hampered the process of integration of the state with India and promoted fissiparous tendencies in the Kashmir valley but also jeopardized their political, economic, social and cultural interests and rendered them unreal and ineffective for all practical purposes. Has Omar Abdullah and his ilk ever appreciated this fact while seeking to impose on the unwilling people of Jammu and Ladakh and the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus? He and his ilk have never done do. On the contrary, the like of Omar Abdullah have all along sought to impose their regressive, intolerant and primitive ideology on them. Omar Abdullah would be well advised to first believe in the concept of diversity and then preach sermons. |
