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J&K Bank skips local dialects in diversity message on International language Day
The absence of local languages of the Union Territory including Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari and Gojari prompted criticism from the netizens.
Jammu and Kashmir Bank on Sunday was criticised for not including Kashmiri and Dogri, two majorly spoken languages of J&K, in its Mother Language Day message. The bank, however, later amended the message to add the two languages.
In an advertisement disseminated through its social media handles, the bank said they “proudly speak the language of respect and diversity” and included a graphic of different languages spoken in the country.
“At JK Bank, we encourage linguistic diversity and respect every language. Recognising and valuing each language this International Mother language Day,” it said in the message.
The absence of local languages of the Union Territory including Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari and Gojari prompted criticism from the netizens.
“The J&K Bank could have left us without this insult on #MotherLanguageDay. The Bank is going across the country to celebrate even Marathi, Tamil and Gujarati but would not like to take ‘pride’ in Dogri and Kashmiri, for which the Parliament made a huge effort to declare them as official languages of Jammu and Kashmir. Forget Gojari and Pahari if you were thinking since seeing this,” wrote Zafar Choudhary, a journalist.
Mir Faheem, a Srinagar resident, said the bank brought itself disrepute.
“J&K Bank has only brought itself disrepute by ignoring Kashmiri language in its promotional advertisement pertaining to International Mother Language Day. And this runs contrary to its message of "respecting every language". So, in a way, it has become International Shame Day for J&K Bank,” he said.
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Author Gowhar Geelani wrote: “Essentially, on international day of Mother Tongue, J&K Bank has telegraphed this message to the people of Kashmir: We respect diversity and all languages except the language of the native Kashmiris. If this is not cultural aggression & an insult to the identity of Kashmir, nothing is.”
After the outrage, the bank made amends to first include Kashmiri and then Dogri in the graphic.
