KASHMIR-Neglect of Language Policy

Neglect of Language Policy Balraj Puri RELIGION and language are the two main focal points of popular aspirations in India. Failure to satisfy them or re- concile such aspirations of different groups has been a major cause of political tensions in the country. In the case -of Jammu and Kashmir state, attention is certainly paid to the religious susceptibilities of its people. But like any other people, religion does not exhaust all the emotional urges of the Kashmiri people. Kashmiri Muslims, for instance, are not merely Muslims, they are also Kashmiris. Likewise Dogra Hindus are Hindus as well as Dogras. What stands in the way of full satisfaction of the aspirations of the people and their integration into a harmonious composite whole is the language policy of the state.