Capt writes to PU against merger of Urdu with foreign languages

Classifying Urdu as a foreign language is not desirable, says Punjab chief minister

Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh has written to the Panjab University (PU) authorities, asking them to reconsider the proposed merger of the Urdu department with those of other foreign languages.

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The move comes days after the CM expressed his disappointment over the proposed merger of departments at PU.

“I have written to @officialPU to reconsider their decision to include Urdu as part of the School of Foreign Languages. Classifying it as a foreign language, like German, Chinese or Russian is not desirable. On a personal level, I regret that I did not have the chance to learn Urdu,” Singh tweeted.

A committee constituted by PU vice-chancellor Raj Kumar had proposed that the Urdu department be merged with French, German, Russian, Tibetan and Chinese departments to form a School of Foreign Languages.

However, after strong opposition from various stakeholders, PU had postponed the meeting of the committee, headed by dean of university instruction (DUI) Shankarji Jha, on Monday.

Earlier, officials of the Urdu department had written a letter to DUI expressing their resentment against the proposed merger.