Says the Language Needs Due Status, Centre Must Review its Decision
Amritsar, September 03, 2020: Senior Punjab BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina today reacted strongly on the exclusion of Punjabi language out from Union Government’s proposed bill in which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be declared as the official languages in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said Punjabi which is widely spoken and read in the region has been left out and must be one of the official languages.
In an appeal to Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Sri Amit Shah, he said that Punjabi language must be given its due status in the UT and be made one of the officials language in Jammu and Kashmir. He said there is large chunk of population which speaks Punjabi and the language had its own status before the promulgation of the Article 370 but now status have been taken away.
``There is large scale literature of Punjabi in Jammu and even in Kashmir and the Punjabi had been a popular language ever since the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh when the region was part of the Sikh Empire, before Britishers annexed Punjab into British India. The Centre must review its decision on the subject”, said Mr. Chhina in a statement issued here today.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced on Wednesday in Delhi that the Kashmir Official Languages Bill-2020 will be introduced in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament. The draft of the Bill has been cleared by the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister and would become law after the Parliament pass it.
``I respect the inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri into the list of official languages. But Punjabi must also be included in the list too”, said Chhina, adding that all the three above languages had been closely associated and influenced by the Punjabi language and it will be a grave injustice to the popular Punjabi language if it is not included as one of the official languages in J-K.