New Delhi: Legislators in Uttar Pradesh can now speak and listen to the translation of their speeches in the assembly in four regional dialects and English in addition to Hindi.
These dialects are Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundelkhandi and Braj Bhasha, spoken in Awadh (central UP), Purvanchal (eastern UP), Bundelkhand and the western UP regions of the state, respectively.
However, the opposition Samajwadi Party has objected to the inclusion of English and the omission of Urdu from the list that was set in motion from the ongoing budget session of the state assembly.
Urdu, UP’s second official language, is widely spoken across the state, especially by its Muslim population. Around one-fifth of the state’s population is Muslim.
However, when confronted with the question of the omission of Urdu, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday (February 18) passed a communally laced comment against the language.
“They will educate their children in English schools, but if the government wants to provide this facility for the children of others, they say, ‘teach them Urdu!’, meaning they want to make them maulvis. They want to take the country towards kathmullapan. This cannot work,” said Adityanath in the assembly.
Kathmulla, which roughly means bigoted, is popularly understood as a religious slur against Muslims. Adityanath has used the controversial word to refer to Muslims several times in the past.
The discussion on the languages started with speaker Satish Mahana informing MLAs that they could now also speak in Awadhi, Braj, Bundelkhandi, Bhojpuri and English and also be provided audio translations for them.
The four regional dialects were introduced so that the common citizen can also understand the proceedings of the assembly and “directly connect” with it, said Mahana.
He also said that the government’s move was aimed at increasing the “prestige” of these languages nationally and globally as well as “increase the respect” for these “endangered languages”.
Mata Prasad Pandey, senior Samajwadi Party MLA and leader of the opposition, was quick to raise an objection over the use of English, which he felt would weaken Hindi, the official language of the state.
“I am not against any regional language. But using English in the Vidhan Sabha is not justified,” said Pandey, referring to the long history and movement of establishing Hindi as the official language.
“If you are okay with English, then why not Urdu? It is also a language,” Pandey said, adding that “there is an attempt to weaken Hindi by introducing English.”
He also argued that people in rural UP did not understand English.
Adityanath misrepresented Pandey’s objection to English and accused the opposition of opposing regional dialects and advocating for Urdu.
“You Samajwadis have double standards. You send your children to English public schools but ask others’ children to study in that village school which does not even have basic amenities,” said Adityanath.
Shivpal Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader, criticised Adityanath for his comments on Urdu.
“Why are you so troubled by Urdu? Does not the constitution speak about providing respect to every language?” asked Shivpal.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that “if those who create divisions in society by attacking others on the basis of language have the ability, then they should develop such world class schools in UP that people do not send their children abroad for studies”.
But, he added in his X post, “for this, a global perspective will have to be developed. How can those who have visited only one or two countries till date have such a broad perspective that they will be able to do such a great job?”
