DU admission form fiasco: 'Muslim' as mother tongue, Urdu missing
Professors say it reflects communal mindset; authorities 'clueless' how the error crept in
Delhi University's (DU) undergraduate registration portal, which went live on Thursday (June 19), erroneously listed 'Muslim' as the mother tongue option while entirely omitting Urdu from its dropdown menu.
The reported goof-up was corrected, with authorities saying they had "no idea" how the "mistake" had crept in.
Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) secretary Abha Dev Habib was the first to point out the blunder.
"The DU registration form for undergraduate admissions could not be more Islamophobic. Under 'mother tongue', the form omits Urdu entirely while listing 'Muslim' as a mother tongue. Is it beyond DU's understanding that Muslims speak the same languages as others from their regions? The omission is despite the fact that Urdu is listed as an officially recognised language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution," she said.
"How can a central university publish such a form? This reflects communal mindset," she added.
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Executive Council (EC) member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said the error was "unfortunate".
"It is extremely sad and unfortunate that a premier Central University like Delhi University is committing these mistakes. These should be rectified immediately. Diversities and multilingualism of our country need to be acknowledged and respected," he said.
'Deliberate targeting of Urdu'
Associate Professor of English Rudrashish Chakraborty, who's also a member of the DU Teachers' Association (DUTA) executive, said the "deliberate targeting of Urdu" was part of DU's "communal agenda to not just marginalise a language but to also erase the ethos of composite culture represented by Urdu as a language and also 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.
When contacted, Dean Admissions, Haneet Gandhi, told The Federal it could have been the result of a possible oversight.
"We didn't even know this happened. Immediately, it has been corrected. We have removed 'Muslim' and added Urdu. We don't know have any idea how it happened. There are so many languages; there may have been an oversight," she said.
