Lines of language

Generally legislators from the Kashmir province speak in Urdu, while Jammu-based legislators stick to Hindi. A few MLAs from the Rajouri-Poonch-Doda areas, which have a Muslim majority, also speak Urdu and occasionally sprinkle their pronouncements with a few Pahari words. But with the passage of time something very interesting is happening in terms of language.

I have been covering the legislative assembly sessions in a strife-torn state for the last six years. I have discovered that of late MLAs from Kashmir have begun to use many words of Hindi when they speak in the House. As if on cue, the Hindi-speaking MLAs from Jammu are now increasingly using Urdu words.

This may be a small change, but one with tremendous significance since this is a state that has been sharply polarised along ethnic and religious lines. It also shows how languages have taken each other’s hue in this great melting pot of cultures.

And the list goes one and on. However, it is also true that Kashmiri and Dogri, which are spoken by a huge population in Jammu and Kashmir, are also spoken by the legislators.

When I first started covering the assembly sessions at Jammu in 2001, the regional divides were underlined by the language used in the House. Today, that is no longer the case. Perhaps this linguistic shift is a harbinger of more unified times in one of the most troubled regions of the country.