Practically all institutions related to the largest minority are going through an existential crisis under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime. Like the Central Waqf Council, National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) — the largest and an autonomous central organisation for the promotion of Urdu language in the country — is also functioning without a governing council
Abdul Bari Masoud | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took over the reins of power at the Centre in 2014, a pattern has emerged of marginalising or ignoring institutions associated with minorities. Furthermore, the credibility of these organisations is being eroded by the appointment of incompetent persons at the helm of affairs. These persons enjoy minimal credibility but are thriving because of their right political connections.
The latest case in point is the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) which has an annual budget of Rs 90 crores. However, since December 4, 2021, the NCPUL’s governing council has not been constituted, despite letters being addressed to the prime minister and the Union education minister. The education ministry oversees the council. In the absence of a governing body, its myriad operations, including the launch of new titles, have come to an end. And to top it all, NCPUL has been unable to utilise its full budgetary allocations.
Due to this dismal scenario, the council has been unable to support any activities linked to its basic objectives with even one grant during the current fiscal year. It was compelled to put up a notice on its website stating: “New applications for financial assistance for bulk purchase of manuscripts, projects, books/periodicals/journals etc. under various schemes will not be entertained between 1st May to 31st May 2023”.
The notice’s final sentence explains that this was being done “for unavoidable reasons.”
NCPUL Director Dr. Shaikh Aquil Ahmad’s signature appears on the notice which was issued on April 30.
Of course, this has caused anxiety among writers and the Urdu-speaking community. They suspect this organisation is being purposely targeted by the current regime.
When Clarion India spoke with Director Ahmad on the sorry affairs of the council, he candidly admitted: “Yes, the council did not ask for new applications as last year’s applications are still waiting because a governing body could not be constituted; however, I am only an employee here, so I have no control over that.”
In the absence of a governing council, Dr. Ahmad said neither the finance committee nor the executive council could be formed.
Grants and aid, new centers of learning for Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Computer and Calligraphy among other things need to be approved by the finance committee and the executive council. Even the latter delegates power to the director of NCPUL for three years, after which the director can carry out all activities.
In the absence of a governing board, the director is not permitted to launch any new projects, schemes, or centres. He can only manage the old centres and carry out daily tasks. Additionally, he is not permitted to give grants or other financial assistance to organisations or institutions that plan to host seminars or other activities to promote Urdu. Besides, he lacks the right to make bulk book purchases and cannot release funding for new projects or grants for the publication of manuscripts, for example.
In his defence, Dr. Ahmad said only the education minister has the authority to constitute the governing council.
“I can request the education minister by writing a letter, but I cannot put any kind of pressure on him because it is not up to any director to put pressure on the minister. Some people think that the director is as powerful as the education minister, he can do whatever he wants, but that is not the case. The director works only in the ministry of education as a joint secretary, deputy secretary and undersecretary and is empowered to do only as much as he is asked to do by the ministry. Some people also think that the director is the supreme boss which is completely wrong. The supreme boss is only the education minister,” he contended.
The NCPUL, which was established to advance the Urdu language, began operations in Delhi on April 1, 1996. It was formerly known as the Tarqqui Urdu Bureau and was founded in 1973 as a result of the recommendations made in the Inder Kumar Gujral Committee report on the situation of the Urdu language in the country at that time.
In its capacity as the national nodal agency for the promotion of the Urdu language, NCPUL is the principal coordinating and monitoring authority.
In November last year, a letter was sent to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan requesting him to reconstitute the governing body but there was a response. Speaking to Clarion India, Dr. Syed Ahmad Khan, president of the Urdu Development Organisation, said he sent a letter to the prime minister seeking his intervention in forming the governing council. The letter stated that in the absence of the governing council, the NCPUL activities have been affected badly.
Earlier, Dr. Khan also sent a letter to the education minister. “At least the Prime Minister’s Office acknowledged our letter but that education ministry did not,” he said.
Till now no action has been taken by the ministry in this regard.
The NCPUL provides financial help in publishing drafts of books by Urdu language scholars, writers, litterateurs, poets etc. Apart from this, it also provides financial support to non-governmental organizations in organising seminars, symposiums, mushairas etc. for the development and upliftment of the Urdu language. Due to the absence of the governing council for the last year, all this work has come to a standstill.
Analysts believe that the Modi government’s disinterest is the main impediment. It has been inordinately delaying the reconstitution of the council’s main body. Currently, the 37-member NCPUL only has four permanent members, including the minister of education (who serves as chair), a director, and two other ministry employees. Even the principal publishing officer’s post has been lying vacant for a long time.
It will not be out of place to mention here that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is systematically trying to take control of this esteemed Urdu body. Last year, the council violated its own regulations and procedures when it published the book “Mustaqbil ka Bharat” written by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
A group of Urdu authors and professors had sharply criticised NCPUL’s choice to print and promote the book, alleging that it promoted the ideals of a divisive organisation like the RSS and was an effort to annihilate an important institution in the country.
Interestingly, Bhagwat’s book was translated by the director himself. Critics said it was a brazen attempt to please the RSS bosses and in lieu of this favour, he got a reward of two year-extension from the ministry. Usually, a director’s tenure is limited to three years.
When asked what prompted him to publish Mohan Bhagwat’s book, Dr. Ahmad said “Mohan Bhagwat is the most popular leader of the world and he wanted the Urdu community to know what is the ideology of RSS and the views of Bhagwatji.”
When questioned as to who took the decision to publish the book in the absence of the governing council, the director said a committee had taken the decision. Despite further prodding, he failed to provide the names of the members of the purported committee and its chairperson.
The entire situation, according to Abu Bakr Abbad, a professor of Urdu at Delhi University and a former principal publication officer for NCPUL, is despicable.
Slamming the affairs of the council, former vice chairman of the NCPUL governing body and former MP Shahid Siddiqui told Clarion India that it shows the intent of the government that it was not interested in advancing the cause of Urdu.
It is an independent body but now its autonomous nature has been badly affected and those who are holding key posts at the council have become meek servants, he lamented.
He also alleged rampant corruption in allotment of Computer centers and in the distribution of grants
On the publication of Bhagwat’s book, the former MP said they (council officials) were only asked to bend, but they prostrated before the powers that be.
“During my tenure as vice chairman, I tried to enhance the annual budget of the council and stopped the TA and DA for governing council members who usually take more interest in these perks than the cause of Urdu,” Siddiqui said.
The question of how effective a body that is severely underpowered can be is a valid one. The deliberate politics being practiced in the name of Urdu, as opposed to the NCPUL’s insufficient membership base, according to a former top official of the organisation, are what prohibits funding from being granted. Given that NCPUL’s operations have all but ended this fiscal year, many in the Urdu community are questioning the Modi government’s intentions.
Another example is the Central Waqf Council which is being run without a permanent secretary. S.P. Singh Teotia has been given additional charge of the Waqf Council. Its advisory body has not been constituted for a long time.
