Delhi University under fire for calling religion a language, dropping Urdu

Delhi University’s undergraduate admission portal, which went live on Thursday, June 20, contained a communally insensitive error that has drawn outrage. Under the section for mother tongue, “Muslim” was listed as one of the options.

This was compounded by the fact that Urdu, a language spoken by a large number of Muslims in India, and officially recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, was removed from the list.

The first person to point out the error was Abha Dev Habib, secretary of the Democratic Teachers’ Front. “The fact that a central university can publish such a form is a reflection of their communal mindset,” she asserted.

Associate professor of English, and member of Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), Rudrashish Chakraborty, has said that this deliberate targeting of Urdu was an effort by Delhi University to erase a composite culture, ethos and literature.

“Trying to suggest that Muslims do not speak the other languages of the country, including Hindi and Urdu, is not being spoken by the Non-Muslims! This is a brazen attempt to create an ‘other’ out of the largest minority community in the country,” he said.

Delhi University has yet to issue an official statement on this matter.

(The headline has been changed to maintain editorial standards.)