Digital Desk: Farooq Abdullah, president of the National Conference and a member of Parliament, stated on Sunday that one's mother tongue is a fundamental component of one's culture and identity and that every effort should be made to preserve Jammu and Kashmir's linguistic variety.
In his message on International Mother Tongue Day, Abdullah stated that the mother tongue should be the medium of instruction in schools, particularly during the formative years.
"It lays a strong foundation for the expression of creativity and personality development. It also fosters creativity at the formative stages. As far as the Kashmiri language is concerned, it is richly endowed with classical as well as folk literature watered over thousands of years by various poets, sages, rhetoricians and linguists," he said.
The NC president stated that, despite having a huge number of speakers, Kashmiri has the distinction of being one of the 22 languages included in the Eighth Schedule, but this does not mean that the language is safe from extinction.
"Therefore, the need of the hour calls for taking radical steps to protect it and propagate it. Urdu, no doubt glues all the people of Jammu and Kashmir together, but languages like Kashmiri, Dogri, Pahari, Gojri, Punjabi should not be relegated to obscurity," he said.
The NC MP from Srinagar has asked for a comprehensive policy to assist maintain Kashmiri, Dogri, Punjabi, and other languages alive in Jammu and Kashmir, especially during formative years of learning.
Furthermore, he emphasised the need of having particular scholarships for researchers undertaking research programmes in vernacular languages.
Abdullah recommended parents to communicate in their own language at home.
"Communicating in one's mother tongue should be a matter of pride for all of us in Jammu and Kashmir," he added.
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