India too diverse to have one national language or religion: Omar Abdullah

Srinagar: India is too diverse a country to have one national language and the idea of India is that it gives space to everybody, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said here on Thursday.

Talking to reporters, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said it is important to recognise and respect that India is more than just one language, one culture or one religion. “India is too diverse a c o u n t r y t o h ave one nat i o n a l language.

The idea of India i s t h a t it gives space to everybody. When you pick up an Indian currency note, how many languages do you find on it? “The currency note gives space to all the languages and if the Indian currency note gives space to all the languages, then obviously it is understood that we are more than just one language, more than just one culture, more than just one religion,” he said, replying to a query on a recent controversy over the issue.

“We must give space to everybody. If we do not impose a language, why should anybody do it? Let people choose. Why should there be a national language? I do not think a place like India needs a national language, we do not need a national religion. We need to give space to everybody,” Abdullah said.

Asked if communalism had become mainstream and elections are now only fought over HinduMuslim issues, he said it was not something new. “It has been mainstreamed like perhaps never before. That is true and it is unfortunate,” he added.

To a question on whether he thinks J&K’s accession to India was a mistake, the NC leader answered in the negative, saying no one could have predicted how things would pan out. (PTI)