Muslim As 'Mother Tongue', Urdu Option Missing: DU Admission Portal Sparks Row
New Delhi: A controversy has erupted over the allegations that the option listing the mother tongue removed Urdu and replaced it with “Muslim” on Thursday. Since the Delhi University undergraduate admission portal went live yesterday, June 19, candidates identified listing “Muslim” as an option under the “Native Language” section, apparently identifying the language with a particular religion, despite the fact being otherwise.
Universities typically ask applicants to mention their native language, but the option for “Urdu” was missing in the DU application portal. Instead, the form reportedly lists “Muslim” as a language.
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The move by the prestigious higher education institution in the country has been perceived as both factually incorrect and communally insensitive. Though the university briefly took down the portal and corrected the error, it did not issue an official statement or clarification regarding the development.
The admission form also drew attention to include caste and occupation-related terms like ‘Bihari,’ ‘Chamar,’ ‘Mazdoor,’ ‘Dehati,’ ‘Mochi,’ and ‘Kurmi’ under the ‘Native Language’ category, raising questions about the rationale and intent behind the form’s structuring.
The academic community has reacted strongly to the issue. Rudrashish Chakraborty, Associate Professor of Kirori Mal College and a DUTA member, slammed the admission form as a communal approach. He said the university’s move was a brazen attempt to create an ‘other’ out of the largest minority community in the country, and it also creates poison in the minds of the “innocent applicants to the university”.
Calling the university’s decision a serious threat to the Constitution of India, the Associate Professor said that it violates the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, and it also undermines the composite and the inclusive spirit of a Central University.
Abha Dev Habib, general secretary of the DTF, condemned the institution’s action, noting that Urdu holds constitutional status as one of India’s recognized languages and that Muslims speak diverse languages like others from their regions. “The DU registration form for the UG admissions can’t be more Islamophobic,” Habib said in a social media post.
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She further asked,” How can a central university publish such a form? This reflects a profound dumbing down motivated by a communal mindset. It needs to be condemned, accountability must be fixed and corrections and apologies ought to be made immediately,” she added.
The backlash against the development intensified in the context of Urdu being removed from the list.
