Review of J&K Language Policy in the Perspective of the Nehruvian Language Policy

Abstract

Political community is the basis of modern polity. In federation, two polities and their respective political communities are related according to the constitutional structure. Political community is constructed through mass education and its medium. Common mass education though a common language inculcates common values among peoples differing in their habitations, mother tongues and strata. Nehru’s visionary language policy defused centrifugal forces and strengthened centripetal forces in the process of Indian political community formation. Political community formation in Jammu and Kashmir began in the reign of Pratap Singh with the adoption of Urdu as the official language and the medium of mass education. The process was communalised in 1920s when the Urdu–Hindi controversy began. The communalised political communities were further broken into contesting ethnic communities after independence due to faulty language policies of successive governments. One polity with multiple political communities has become the biggest hurdle for integration of J&K with India.