NEW DELHI: The Delhi University (DU) has issued an apology after its undergraduate admission form listed “Muslim” as a mother tongue while completely omitting “Urdu”, triggering widespread criticism from faculty members who have alleged communal bias and constitutional insensitivity.
“The University of Delhi sincerely regrets the inadvertent error in its admission form. We acknowledge your concerns and are committed to addressing them,” the university posted on social media platform X.
However, it also urged people not to “vitiate the university’s diverse and harmonious environment” by attributing ulterior motives to the error.
But academics from the DU have rejected this explanation, calling the language used in the form reflective of a “communal mindset.”
Abha Dev Habib, professor at Miranda House, wrote on another social media platform Facebook, “Under ‘Mother Tongue’, the form omits Urdu entirely while listing ‘Muslim’. Is it beyond DU’s understanding that Muslims speak the same languages as others from their regions? This cannot be anything but Islamophobic.”
She added that the omission was particularly serious given Urdu’s status as a language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Calling it more than a clerical lapse, Rudrashish Chakraborty, associate professor at Kirori Mal College and executive member of DUTA, said that the incident was part of a larger pattern of marginalisation. “By removing Urdu and inserting ‘Muslim’, the administration has effectively targeted a language and a culture,” he said, calling the move a violation of both academic and constitutional principles.
Chakraborty also criticised the university’s choice of terminology, arguing that “native language” would have been more academically appropriate than “mother tongue”.
The controversy intensified further after it emerged that the form required applicants under reserved categories to list sub-castes like “mochi” and “dhobi”, a move professors called casteist and insensitive.
Rights groups and faculty are now demanding a formal apology, full transparency and institutional safeguards to prevent future lapses.