By Mohd. Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: Known as a sole Telugu politician with great command over Urdu language, Telangana Rashtriya Samithi supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao has jumped into the ongoing battle of Urdu and non-Urdu speakers in Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), with writing a letter to Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal to probe the alleged irregularities in the lone Urdu university of the nation.
In his epistle to Mr. Sibal, KCR urged the central government to cancel the appointments of non-Urdu speaking staff in MANUU. “The sole and main aim of the formation of MANUU was the promotion of Urdu language in the whole nation. Hyderabad has been the hub of Urdu speakers, and language blossomed here for decades, so this was the reason that national Urdu university was set up here. But in the recent years the administration of Urdu University has indulge in many irregularities, and appointment of non-Urdu speakers is a major one. If this trend of appointment is going to continue, then Urdu university will lose its prime features. And the main reason for its setup will die down,” KCR wrote.
He even gave example of Dr. Mohd Abdul Haq from his parliamentary constituency of Karimnagar. He wrote that Dr. Haq has done Ph.D. in computer science; he completed his matriculation through Urdu medium. He applied for the post of assistant professor in MANUU and gave interview but he was not selected. In his place Mrs. Kehkashan Begum who was neither eligible for NET nor having any knowledge of Urdu was selected and given 2 years time to pass NET and to learn Urdu.
KCR didn’t miss to play a regional card; he demanded that 40% reservation should be provided in staff recruitment and admissions in MANUU to the Urdu speakers of Telangana region.
He wrote this letter after getting representation from MANNU action committee, an umbrella organization of different teachers group and NGOs who claim to be fighting against ‘anti-Urdu’ administration of the university. He stressed in his letter for an impartial probe in the irregularities and check on repeating same mistakes in the future.