The Rajasthan government recently issued a directive to the state police to replace all the Urdu and Persian words currently being used in official documents, letters and reports with their Hindi equivalents. After Chhattisgarh, this is the second BJP-ruled state to issue such a directive. While there is nothing wrong in promoting the national language, or any language for that matter, the question that arises is: is such an extensive exercise really needed?

The reason given by minister of state for the home department Jawahar Singh Bedham is that Rajasthan is a Hindi-speaking state, and police personnel and the general public are not familiar with Urdu or Persian words, often leading to misunderstandings or misrepresentations and delays in serving justice.........

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