The Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has nullified the recruitment of 4,000 Urdu teachers by the previous Samajwadi Party government.
According to an India Today report, the Additional Chief Secretary of Basic Education Department of Uttar Pradesh announced the cancellation, citing that there were already enough Urdu teachers and these recruitments were not required.
The recruitment of Urdu teachers was started by the Akhilesh Yadav government on December 15, 2016, for primary schools. The online application process began on December 23, 2016, and applications were accepted till January 2017. The counselling date was announced in March 2017, reports Jagran Hindi daily. But after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state, the Adityanath government on March 23, 2017, it stopped the recruitment process and didn’t forward it for one year, as per a report in Amar Ujala newspaper. Due to this, the candidates went to the Allahabad High Court, which instructed the Basic Education Department to complete the recruitment process, India Today reports.
However, the Additional Chief Secretary of Basic Education Department, Prabhat Kumar, on Monday, said a large number of Urdu teachers were working in primary schools, which is why recruitment was not required. The UP government, as reported, will soon file a review petition against the High Court's decision.
The decision of the Adityanath government, however, has raised questions on the intention of the BJP government with regard to the welfare of Muslims in the state.
Reacting on the issue, Samajwadi Party (SP) national spokesperson, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, told Newsclick: "The cancellation of 4,000 Urdu teachers recruitment is part of the larger politics of exclusion and discrimination practised by the BJP against minority communities. These Urdu teachers were well-qualified and were supposed to teach all subjects, including Urdu language. Urdu is the second official language of UP and it represents the Ganga-Jamuna culture of our country. This language does not belong to any religion; the BJP has to understand this."
Defending the recruitments by the SP government, Gandhi said the "Samajwadi government in December 2016 started the process of recruiting 16,460 BTC (basic training certificate) teachers. The process was going on when the Yogi government came to power in March 2017 and stopped all these recruitments (4,000 Urdu teachers included) on March 23, under the pretext of inquiry."
He said all 16,460 applicants went to Allahabad HC against this order of the government in July, 2017. The High Court in November 2017 directed the government to complete the recruitment process within two months. The UP government went in special appeal against this decision. The court on April 12, 2018, dismissed the appeal and directed the government to complete the process of recruitment.
"Complying with this order, the government gave appointment letters to 12,460 general teachers, leaving out 4,000 Urdu teachers. This act was in violation of the court order. There was same order but two reactions of the government. All this shows the biases of the state government against Urdu language. We strongly condemn this act of government and urge it to reverse its order of cancellation of Urdu teachers jobs at the earliest", Gandhi said.
Asad Ali, an applicant, told Newsclick, "We won the case in Allahabad High Court. The single bench had ordered the government to complete the formality within two months and give the appointment letters. Then the government went to the double bench, which also agreed with the decision of the single bench and ordered the same decision to be followed. They had said all this on October 2, and the next hearing is due on October 24. Despite this, the Adityanath government did not follow the order, which amounts to contempt of court. On next hearing, we will go to the court."
Ali said he was disappointed with this news, adding "Let's see what the Yogi government would say on the next hearing, as in last hearing the Allahabad High Court had said that the government had two options, either complete the whole process of recruitments or be ready to face the consequences."
