Digvijaya slams Centre's clause for Urdu writers

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday slammed the union Human Resource Development ministry's proposal asking Urdu writers to declare that “the content in their books will not be against the government or the country”.

“It is condemnable. If they have introduced such a clause then it should be there for the writers of all the languages. Why are they only targeting Urdu writers. It is being done because their (BJP) only agenda is to divide the country on communal lines and rule,” said Singh.

The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) has recently introduced a form, requiring authors of the books that it acquires annually, to declare that the content will not be against the government or the country.

NCPUL, that provides monetary assistance to Urdu writers, comes under the union HRD ministry-led by Smriti Irani.

The form handed out to the writers reads: “I son/daughter of confirm that my book/magazine titled which has been approved for bulk purchase by NCPUL’s monetary assistance scheme does not contain anything against the policies of the government of India or the interest of the nation, does not cause disharmony of any sort between different classes of the country, and is not monetarily supported by any government or non-government institution.”

Asked about the controversy over the 'Bharat mata ki jai' slogan, Singh said: “One should not be surprised. To hide their failures in governance and development they keep raising such issues of love jihad, ghar wapsi, ramzada-haramzada and now Bharat mata ki jai.”