A welcome step by the Union government that will assimilate the entire Jammu and Kashmir region into the country more homogeneously, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the Jammu and Kashmir Languages Bill 2020 which will make five languages viz. Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri, English and Urdu—the official language of the region.
“We have decided to introduce the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 in Parliament, under which five languages—Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and English—will become official languages. This has been done based on demand by the people,” said Javadekar. The I&B minister said more details of the bill would emerge once it is brought to the parliament.
It was an anomaly that the three languages — Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri — which are spoken by nearly 70 percent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir were not approved for use in official business of the state.
BIG: Union Cabinet has approved introduction in Parliament the Jammu & Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 in which 5 languages Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi & English will be official languages. Imagine not Kashmiri but Urdu was J&K official language. Thank you, @narendramodi!
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) September 2, 2020
Inclusion of #Dogri, #Hindi & #Kashmiri as official languages in #JammuAndKashmir is not only fulfillment of a long pending public demand, but also in keeping with the spirit of equality ushered after Aug 5, 2019. #CabinetDecisions
— Dr Jitendra Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@DrJitendraSingh) September 2, 2020
“The Cabinet decision today will not only bring ease of governance but also ease of citizen participation in governance in the newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Minister of State for Personnel said.
The Union Government since the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories has been ramping up measures to better connect the region to the rest of the country—something which hadn’t happened in the last 70 years rule of Congress and its lackeys.
While demands are also rising to add Gojri, Pahari, Punjabi, Sheena and few other languages to the list—the first step by the government has been lauded by all.
Reported by TFI earlier, the government in an attempt to bring the Dogra community out of the shadows of the Kashmiri’s had announced a mega multimedia project worth Rs 10 crore. The project is set to be established in Jammu City by September end and will highlight the glory days of the Dogra rule in the state.
Over the years the immense contribution of Dogras in Jammu & Kashmir’s history has gone unnoticed. The political narrative and discourse of the region has entirely shifted to the problems of Kashmir valley and the Kashmiri people.
The previous regimes, (read: UPA), sympathetic to the cause of radical Islamists had marginalized the region of Jammu and Ladakh to a point of no return.
But the abrogation of Article 370 has given a new breathing space to these regions to reclaim their long-lost glory. The current NDA government realizes that to bring lasting peace in the region, its history needs to be revived too.
With history, the language of the region assumes paramount importance too. By adding Kashmiri, Hindi and Dogri, the government has corrected an anomaly and hopefully, the remaining local languages will get their due-importance in the future.