 Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 24: Connecting Punjabi with Sikhs alone will lead to nothing but sheer injustice with the language as Punjabi is popular among all the religions practiced in the erstwhile State of J&K.
This was observed by Kavinder Gupta, former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP while interacting with a deputation of Nirbho Nirbhay Organisation headed by its President Harjeet Singh at Jammu.
The senior BJP leader said that the Punjabi language holds special significance in J&K as the same is spoken in the region by a vast majority of people since times immemorial and therefore it deserves inclusion in the list of official languages of the newly carved out Union Territory on its merits. He assured that he will do everything possible to ascertain that Punjabi language does not face any kind of prejudice. He maintained that he will personally take up the matter with the concerned quarters at the Government level and also at the party level to make sure that Punjabi is given its due share.
The former Deputy Chief Minister, however, countered the stand made by one of the deputations which met him earlier that Punjabi is language of Sikhs only. He made it clear that Punjabi is not spoken by Sikhs alone it is rather preferred language of the people living along the border from Kathua to Poonch, besides West Pakistan refugees and members of the Valmiki Samaj.
Kavinder also admitted that he himself is fan of Punjabi language and love to read, write and speak this language whenever he gets a chance. The deputation comprised of Mohinder Singh, Rajiv Duggar, Gurpreet Singh, Ravinder Singh, Rinku Mahajan, Rahul Gupta and Shamsher Singh. |
