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Badal for promotion of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen the bonds of “Punjab as a historical regional entity, Punjabi as language and Punjabiyat as cultural ethos”.

According to an official release here, Mr. Badal made this appeal while addressing a gathering of intellectuals from India and Pakistan who converged at the first All-India Punjabi Conference organised to commemorate the 47th Foundation Day of Punjabi University in Patiala. While accepting that English was the universally accepted link language and Hindi the national language, the Chief Minister said that recognition for these languages should not be at the cost and status of the mother-tongue.

Mr. Badal said his government would amend the law and introduce legal provisions under which it would be mandatory that Punjabi became a compulsory subject in all schools. However, the State Government would not wait for this till the next session of the Legislative Assembly; it would issue the necessary ordinance to ensure mandatory use of Punjabi in all Government and semi-Government offices as well. Mr. Badal announced a committee comprising veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, Editor-in-Chief of Ajit newspaper Barjinder Singh Hamdard, Tarlochan Singh, MP, and Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh to minutely examine the various clauses of the proposed ordinance.

Mr. Badal urged the parents to start speaking Punjabi with their children as it was the essence of saving the rich legacy which was being fast depleted. He underlined the need for efforts to promote Punjabi as a second language in the neighbouring states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi which were the part of erstwhile Punjab as well as the Ganganagar area of Rajasthan.

Later Mr. Badal honoured writer Pritam Singh, dramatist Gursharan Singh, author Dalip Kaur Tiwana, academician T.R. Sharma and film and theatre personality Raj Babbar for their contributions in promoting Punjabi. He also launched the world’s first Punjabi search engine, “Punjabi Khoj”, along with Punjabi University’s website in Punjabi developed by a team of its computer department led by Gurpreet Singh Lehal.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kuldip Nayar said he feared that Punjabi culture too would die or get distorted if “Gurmukhi script” was not taught in schools. The bigger Punjabi population in Pakistan’s Punjab had also failed to promote the culture and language with the denial of official status to Punjabi, he said, adding that it was high time a movement was launched to promote Punjabi within Punjab and outside.

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