The All Party Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) Saturday termed the ‘Jammu and Kashmir official languages bill 2020′ as “discriminatory” for excluding Punjabi language in the list.
Adressing a presser in Srinagar, Chairman APSCC, Jagmohan Singh Raina along with other leaders expressed strong resentment against authorities for ignoring Punjabi language in official language bill.
The reaction came after the Union cabinet approved bill last week, under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said bill has excluded Punjabi language which is sheer injustice with the decades old language and for the people associated with it.
“Punjabi is being taught in schools, colleges and universities, even JK Academy of Art, Culture & Languages has a full-fledged Punjabi section along with magazine as well,” Raina said.
He said over the years, thousands of Punjabi books have been published in J&K and many more are in the process of being published.
Raina said Punjabi language was one of the vital languages in the region and well recognized in erst while Constitution of J&K.
“We want to clear thar Punjabi language is not related to any religion nor any group. Even several Muslim and Hindu scholars have rendered appreciable services towards promotion of language,” he said.
The Sikh leader stated that with a stroke of pen central government has tried to abolish the language from the literary horizon which is unfortunate.
“The move had badly bruised the sentiments of the minorities, more so those belonging to the Sikh community. Punjabi was a popular language as it is spoken by lakhs of people,” he said.
Meanwhile, other Sikh leaders stated that resentment is already among the people and it may take the form of an agitation if corrective measures are not taken.
“In case the corrective measures are not taken then people especially those belonging to Sikh community would hits on roads unless and until their demands are not fulfilled,” they said.
They urged Government of India to roll back its decision and include Punjabi as one of the languages of Jammu & Kashmir. “We don’t have any grudge against any language but at the same time we will not allow discrimination with Punjabi,” leaders said.
The leaders who were present on the occasion including Principal Naranjan singh (ex president GPC Pulwama), ZEO Hakumat Sngh ( ex Gen secretary GPC Badgam), Kuldeep Singh Bali (Ex president GPC Srinagar) Er.Nirmal Singh , APSCC Baramulla and other leaders.