‘Punjabi will live despite challenges’
CHANDIGARH : Creation of a Punjabi Culture Parliament and a belief that the Punjabi language might be going through hard times, but will live on, were the key ideas that came to the fore on Day 1 of the two-day World Punjabi Conference held at Panjab University Law Auditorium on Saturday. Vidhan Sabha speaker Rana KP Singh and local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu inaugurated the conference.
Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh was to inaugurate the conference, but he had to rush to New Delhi for a meeting with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Agreeing that signboards in Punjab should have Punjabi on top, Singh said he would take up the issue with chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Sidhu quoted examples on how proud the French are of their language and do not acknowledge you, if spoken to in English. “Why do we feel inferior? Why do we say ‘Yeah, Yeah’, than feeling proud of who we are? ‘Je Punjabi banda Punjabi na bole, oh lagda jhooth bolda’ (If a Punjabi man doesn’t speak Punjabi, it seems as if he is telling a lie,” he said.
“We need to create a Punjabi Culture Parliament and create a corpus of Punjabi language and culture. For such a project, I will give ₹50 lakh in the first year,” the minister added. He also wished that a culture developed where birthdays of prominent Punjabi writers are celebrated.
Rana KP Singh said though Punjabi was going through a hard time, it cannot die. “Punjab suffered when some people, for their political gains, asked people to register their mother tongue as Hindi in the Census (he was referring to the division of Punjab after partition). There is also an inferiority complex that Punjabis have about our language,” he added. WPC chairman HS Hanspal lamented on the condition of Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab, in Patiala and how rooms meant for stay of language students had been rented out to the National Cadet Corps (NCC).
Panjab University vice-chancellor Arun K Grover said the university had decided to present a proposal to the government that students should be taught Gurmukhi as well as Shahmukhi script so that the divide created by partition can be bridged.
Punjab Arts Council chairman Surjit Patar said, “Punjab and Punjabiat need to be revived.” The council is jointly organising the event in association with the World Punjabi Conference. He talked about how schools fine children who speak in Punjabi, even as the language was gaining traction globally.
Others who spoke were Punjabi University, Patiala, vicechancellor BS Ghuman; Namdhari Satguru Uday Singh and former director, World Punjabi Centre, Deepak Manmohan Singh. Anita Singh, Jang Bahadur Goyal, Sukhi Bath, and Iqbal Mahal were honoured for contribution to Punjabi language and culture. On Sunday, the conference shifts to Punjab Kala Bhawan.