Telangana assembly on Thursday passed a bill to accord Urdu the status of second official language in the state. Once it becomes law, all state government official correspondence and other orders will have to be issued both in Telugu and Urdu. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had made the announcement in this regard a few days ago.
Following that, roads and buildings minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao introduced the bill to amend the state Official Language Act in the assembly on Thursday. All political parties, including the BJP, welcomed the decision. Congress deputy floor leader T Jeevan Reddy said the previous Congress government had already announced Urdu as the second official language and it was being implemented in the erstwhile nine districts except Khammam district due to its low Muslim population.
All the political parties welcomed the decision, including BJP but questioned the efforts being made to implement the official language Telugu.
Telangana BJP floor leader G Kishan Reddy said the party was not against making Urdu language as second official language, but said the state government was not giving due importance to the state’s official language Telugu. “Is government giving orders in Telugu? The previous Congress and Telugu Desam parties did not make any effort to implement Telugu in official correspondence,” Kishan Reddy said.
Congress deputy floor leader T Jeevan Reddy said the previous Congress government had already announced Urdu as the second official language and it was being implemented in the erstwhile nine districts except Khammam district due to its low Muslim population. He said the government was not taking any measures to revive the past glory of Urdu Academy, library and minority computer training centres. The Congress MLA said the government was high on allocation and low on expenditure.
Deputy chief minister Mohd Mahmood Ali said there was not need of libraries. Instead, the funds would be released for strengthening the Urdu Academy. Legislative affairs minister T Harish Rao said the Congress did not implement Urdu in the state and that it is the TRS government that is taking steps to do so. He said the government would immediately recruit 66 Urdu translators and officials for effective implementation.
MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi lauded the decision on Urdu language and said even during Nizam rule, after 1884, languages such as Telugu, Marathi and Kannada were made second official languages. He said Urdu is not a language that belongs to one religion and quoted the slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ given during the freedom struggle as example of its wide acceptance.
Akbaruddin said it would be of no use spending funds on Urdu libraries in the digital era and asked the government to spend those funds for strengthening the Urdu Academy and minority education schools.
Courtesy: Times of India
