Srinagar
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has withdrawn Kashmiri translations from its language-promoting portal — Bhasha Sangam — after Kashmiri Pandits objected to the version of the language it put out, reported ThePrint.
According to report published by ThePrint, A number of Kashmiri Pandits, including journalists and language scholars, told the ministry that the Kashmiri it promoted had not taken their sensibilities into account and, instead, was based on the script widely spoken by Muslims in the Valley.
“Following the objections, the ministry removed Kashmiri from the portal on Monday,” the report said.
“Sentences/translations in Kashmiri under Bhasha Sangam were prepared by NCERT in association with language experts from Deptt of Education, J&K & University of Kashmir. @HRDMinistry is sensitive to the comments raised & has therefore decided to withdraw them,” its official Twitter handle tweeted.
Sentences/translations in Kashmiri under Bhasha Sangam were prepared by NCERT in association with language experts from Deptt of Education, J&K & University of Kashmir. @HRDMinistry is sensitive to the comments raised & has therefore decided to withdraw them.@PrakashJavdekar
— Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) December 3, 2018
The report quoted sources in the HRD ministry said that it is now seeking the help of language experts in Parliament, who work on official documents, to come out with the ‘correct version’ of the language.
‘Should have had both versions’
The Bhasha Sangam is an attempt by the Modi government to promote vernacular languages in the country through translating basic sentences of the languages into English and Hindi. The sentences are vetted by experts from the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) and linguists from different states, said the report.
“The Kashmiri Pandits have objected to some of these basic sentences in Kashmiri. For example, the portal has stated that the way of greeting or saying ‘hello’ is ‘Asalam Alaikum‘ in Kashmiri, said the report.
“Those opposing this say that it is a more Muslim way of greeting and that Hindus in Kashmir greet each other with ‘namaskar’,” it said.
The report said another objection is with the way ‘how are you’ has been translated. As per the portal, it is ‘tui chhu haz theek‘, which the Pandits say is the “Muslim way” of addressing people, arguing that Hindus use the word ‘Mahra’ instead of ‘Haz’, a word of respect to greet people.
Rahul Pandita, a senior journalist, who was the first one to point this out, told ThePrint that the HRD ministry overlooked Kashmiri Pandit sensibilities while formulating the sentences.
“There are different ways of saying ‘hello’ in Kashmiri — Muslims say it in a different way, Hindus in a different way. They should have ideally kept both on the portal but they just kept one,” ThePrint quoted Rahul as saying.
“Similarly, there is a difference in which Muslims and Hindus say ‘aap’, a word of respect. The HRD portal had only one part of the language. Our problem is with the cultural appropriation that is happening in the Valley,”ThePrint quoted Dr Uday Kakroo, a language scholar, who is trying to revive the ancient Kashmiri script Sharda, also said there are different versions of the language.
“Muslims have a different way of speaking. Their language has more influence of Urdu and Persian words, while the version that Hindus speak has an influence of Sanskrit,” he told ThePrint.
“Kashmiri language was once influenced by Sanskrit before the impact of Islam and Sufism. It is now more influenced by Urdu and Persian.”
The report quoted Professor Majrooh Rashid, head of the Kashmiri language department at Kashmir University, as saying that the language has undergone many transformations.
“When we had Hindu kings, it was influenced by Sanskrit but under Muslim rulers, our language was impacted by Persian,” Rashid said. “When the Dogras took over, it was influenced by Urdu and now it has traces of English.”
He also added that greetings are generally devoid of religious connotations.
“When Muslims talk to each other they use Haz and when Hindus talk to each other they use Mahar. So, both expressions are fine,” Rashid said.
“Hello is hello in Kashmiri as well. Both namaskar and Asalam Alaikum are religious and so we don’t use them as general greeting terms,” ThePrint quoted Professor Majrooh Rashid as saying.
Meanwhile Literary Forum Bandipora on Friday castigated the central government for removing Kashmir language from Language Portal following ‘politically motivated’ objections raised by few ‘sponsored’ miscreants.
Forum in a statement has appealed Ministry of HRD to reconsider the decision of removing Kashmiri language from language portal. “We will fight for the traditional development of Kashmiri language at every front and will not allow anybody to play politics over the sanctity of Kashmiri language” statement said.
Condemning the negative of few ‘sponsored’ members of respected Pandith Community, forum warned political miscreants to avoid playing with the sentiments of Kashmiri people by distorting the linguistic sacredness of Kashmiri language.
“We have fought the miscreants who are trying to distort and pollute the identity of Kashmir. Such elements many of the times raised the issue of script of Kashmiri language to fulfill nefarious interests of colonial setup,” the forum said during an emergency meeting called under the chairmanship of President Sufi Showkat while the members including Mansoor Muntazir, Mubashir Muztarib, GN Zahid, Shabir Shabnum, Mir Tariq, Sheikh Saleem, Anjum Nisar, Mir Dachigami, Rouf Gayal, GH Tayir and other attended the meeting.
Forum appealed all the literary and cultural organisations to join hands with state’s largest organisation Adbi Markaz Kamraz J&K so that such miscreants can be fought at every front.
“Government should have consulted all linguistic representatives before removing Kashmiri from website before bowing to few politically motivated representatives of Pandith Community,” the statement said.
The points raised are very valid. There is a different way kashmiri pandits speak certain things than muslims do. So the observations raised are correct and the decision taken by HRD ministry is very right.