The Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand to make the knowledge of Urdu non-mandatory in the upcoming Naib Tehsildar exam in Jammu and Kashmir has drawn criticism from the ruling National Conference and the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who have claimed the move amounts to cultural erasure, The Hindu reported on Saturday.

Through a notification issued on Monday regarding the recruitment of 75 revenue posts, the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board had told candidates that their “working knowledge of Urdu” would be assessed in one of the exams.

Since Urdu is commonly used in revenue records, land settlements, court rulings, and legal correspondence in the Union Territory, a basic understanding of the language is considered essential for revenue-related roles, according to The Indian Express.

On Thursday, BJP MLA Sunil Sharma, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and the Hindutva party’s state unit president Sat Sharma met with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha seeking intervention in the matter.

Sunil Sharma reportedly told Sinha that as the Union Territory has five official languages, making only one of those mandatory for the exam “violates the constitutional principles of equal opportunity and administrative impartiality”.

He claimed this would create “an unfair barrier, particularly disadvantaging aspirants from the Jammu Division”, reported The Indian Express.

The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party have opposed the BJP’s request.

On Saturday, The Hindu quoted National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq as saying that Urdu’s role in Jammu and Kashmir’s revenue, judicial and administrative systems is “historically established” and was “not in any political or sectarian agenda”.

Sadiq said that undermining the role of the language would be “historically dishonest”. It could also lead to significant administrative and legal disruptions, he claimed.

“We are committed to protecting Jammu and Kashmir’s historical institutions, cultural identity, and administrative continuity,” said the MLA. “We reject any attempt to politicize or communalize the status of Urdu for short term gains.”

Peoples Democratic Party leader and Pulwama MLA Waheed-ur-Rehmaan Parra described the BJP’s demand as “a move that risks erasing J&K’s rich archive and cultural legacy”.

He said that “Urdu is more than a language, it’s a key part of the region’s heritage,” and warned that undermining it “divides communities and rewrites memory”.

Parra’s party colleague Naeem Akhtar said that Urdu has been the official language of Jammu and Kashmir for centuries. He urged the National Conference government to resist what he called the BJP’s “hate for the language”, The Hindu reported.