In a statement Social activist & Aam Aadmi Party Leader Gurmeet Singh Baaghi urged Union government and LG of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to include Punjabi as one of the official languages of UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir was a part of Punjab during the era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with Punjabi as one of the vernacular languages of the region. When Jammu and Kashmir came into existence as an independent state, Punjabi was a widely spoken language there and is now the mother tongue of all the Punjabis in the Jammu region, besides being spoken by the Punjabi community living in Kashmir Valley. Punjabi language was a compulsory subject like Urdu in J&K till 1981. Unfortunately, Punjabi was not included in the list of languages under the Jammu and Kashmir Languages Bill, 2020 which was passed by both the Houses of Parliament with voice vote in September 2020, Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi were included in the list of official languages in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the existing Urdu and English.
Punjabi is over centuries old language and the demand from the Sikh and others punjabi spoken peoples community for inclusion of Punjabi language as official language of Union Territory of J&K is very much genuine and need to be addressed at the earliest. The Union Government decision on deliberately ignoring of Punjabi language and this act of the government had created strong resentment among the Minority Community in J&K. The exclusion of Punjabi from the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 is an anti-minority move. One side Centre Govt are talking about equality (सबका साथ सबका विकास) and other side major regional language of J&K have been ignored. When Government is giving rights to all communities then why Sikh community was ignored. The Sikh community has rich history of sacrifices for the nation and it always worked for the welfare of entire society. The Punjabi language is world renowned language spoken by many communities. When other languages were included as J&K official language then Punjabi is also deserving the same status. Many other countries have also given recognition to the Punjabi language in their respective countries like Canada. Punjabi is widely spoken from across the world including big countries like Australia and Canada, even officials at several Airports in Canada communicate in Punjabi only, Baaghi added.
Baaghi , said It is unfortunate that the Centre has not responded to the genuine demand of Punjabi spoken people and minority despite support from all sections of society. The delay in taking any decision on declaring Punjabi language as the official language of J&K has annoyed the Sikh community and the vast majority of people in the who speak Punjabi language. The government ignored Punjabi language, despite the fact that it has remained an important and well spoken language in the erstwhile state. Punjabi is one of the most spoken language in J&K and people from all community, religion, section & creed demanded that Punjabi language must be include in J&K official languages. Every language has its own significance in history and thus deserve all the recognition.
Despite demands from the different sections of the society and minority the Union Government has not include Punjabi as official language of J&K . Now I once again request the Government of India and LG of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to include Punjabi as one of the official language of J&K, said Baaghi.
