The YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has given a pleasant surprise to the Muslim community by declaring Urdu as the second official language of the state.
During the combined Andhra Pradesh, Urdu was the second official language in the state.
Every government order, gazette notification and the bills introduced in the state assembly used be in Telugu and Urdu, apart from of course English.
After the bifurcation, the same practice is being followed in Telangana state, where there is a sizeable Muslim population.
In Andhra Pradesh, however, the previous Telugu Desam Party government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu completely ignored the demand of the Muslims.
After Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019, too, the demand continued but his government did not pay much attention to it.
After a prolonged delay, the Jagan government finally gave the green signal declaring Urdu as the second official language.
A notification to this effect was issued on Thursday, directing that all the district administrations in the state invariably follow this order.
The notification followed enactment of a bill amending the Official Language Act in the last assembly session.
The bill was introduced by deputy chief minister Md Amzad Basha and it was unanimously accepted.
“Urdu is a poetic language that is appreciated by everybody; it doesn’t belong to only Muslims. To give it an official language status on par with Telugu is a recognition to the literary identity,” Basha said.
He thanked the chief minister for taking a decision in this regard and giving it a legal status. Hereafter, all the official communication would be done also in Urdu, apart from Telugu and English.
