Rajasthan's Language Shift in Policing: A Controversial Move

Rajasthan's BJP government is replacing Urdu terms in police vocabulary with Hindi alternatives. The move, criticized by the Congress, aims to remove specific Urdu words from the police training material. The exercise follows a directive from the state's Minister of State (Home), seeking Hindi replacements for frequently used Urdu terms.

In a controversial move, the Rajasthan government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is set to replace numerous Urdu words in the state's policing vocabulary with their Hindi counterparts. The directive initiated by Jawahar Singh Bedham, the Minister of State (Home), aims to substitute words like 'Mukadma' and 'Mulzim' in police communications.

Following Bedham's directive, the state's police chief, U R Sahoo, tasked the Additional Director General of Police (Training) to collate data on Urdu terms and their Hindi replacements. Officers are instructed to revise training materials and inform police trainees about the changes, with the expectation that these replacements will be incorporated into ongoing training programs.

This decision has sparked criticism from the Congress party, which argues that the focus should be on addressing law and order issues rather than altering vocabulary. The party contends that the initiative is misdirected amidst increasing crime rates, as it fails to prioritize public safety concerns.

(With inputs from agencies.)