People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of trying to remove the Urdu language from the collective history of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here, Mufti claimed the Revenue Department, headed by the chief minister, started the process of removing Urdu from the system in July 2025.
“There is no doubt that our government, headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, is trying to gradually remove Urdu, which is the language of every section of society and community in J-K, from the system,” she said.
She alleged that as the head of the Revenue Department, Abdullah issued an order that the digitisation of revenue documents would take place in the English language only.
“This was even though all our records from centuries are in Urdu. I want to ask Abdullah, why did he issue such an order?… Why impose the Haryana model here and thrust English despite knowing that all documents are in Urdu,” she added.
She also said that under Abdullah’s government, the requirement of knowledge of Urdu, which used to be essential for recruitment into the Revenue Department, was done away with.
“I have no personal fight with Abdullah, but what did not happen in Maharaja’s time or even when the BJP wanted, then why is he doing it? What allergy do you have to Urdu? Why are you removing Urdu from our collective history?” she said.
Mufti emphasised that Urdu has been a common language for the people of J-K for centuries.
“Have the people given such a huge mandate to him for erasing our language, a huge part of the culture and identity. Are you doing it at the behest of the BJP?” she said, adding, “It is an attack on the youth of J-K as well”.
On Tuesday, Mufti led a protest of her party against the Jammu and Kashmir government for removing Urdu as a mandatory language in the revenue records.