TSPSC recruitment tests in Urdu age-old practice

The motive behind the State BJP chief objecting to use of urdu raising doubts

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) allowing Urdu as one of the languages for candidates taking Group-1 and other recruitment exams, has kicked up a fresh row after the BJP raised an objection.

Urdu has been one of the mediums along with English and Telugu for those appearing for the PSC exams at both national and State levels.

There are, however, doubts over the BJP’s motive behind the sudden outburst and efforts to weave conspiracy theories on the issue which has been an old practice even for recruitments by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

It all started a couple of days ago when BJP State president Bandi Sanjay took strong exception to the Commission allowing candidates appearing for Group-1 examinations to answer in Urdu. He claimed that this amounted to favouritism since both the candidate and the evaluator would be from the same religion. At a public meeting on Thursday, he had even vowed that the BJP if it comes to power, would remove from service people who secured jobs on the basis of Urdu.

It was not clear whether the BJP MP was trying to mislead the public or was himself not aware of the Constitutional provisions that recognise Urdu as one of the scheduled languages. As per Article 8 of the Constitution, candidates are allowed to take exams in Urdu conducted by the UPSC and PSCs of various States.

“The BJP leaders are only trying to flare up communal passions among the youth for their own political mileage. They are making it out as if this is the first time that Urdu is being allowed in the country,” said Telangana State Planning Board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar.

Even in undivided Andhra Pradesh, recruitment exams were held in Urdu. In fact, the UPSC has been holding exams including the Civil Services exam in Urdu for a long time now. For instance, Aasim Khan Kifayat Khan, a 28-year-old youth from Dhule in Maharashtra cracked the UPSC civil services exams after writing the exam in Urdu language. His all India rank was 558.

Further, the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission allowed aspirants to take the exams in Urdu and even Persian language until the BJP government excluded them as recently as March last year. Terming the decision unconstitutional, some students and aspirants are said to have challenged the decision in the court seeking justice, and the judgement in this regard is expected soon.