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Punjabi Students at Panjab University Trying to Save Panjabi Language

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Nimrat Kaur
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Punjabi Students at Panjab University Trying to Save Panjabi Language
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Students of the Punjabi department at Panjab University, Chandigarh, have started a drive to “save the status of the language” as Punjab is not used by the administration on signboards while English and Hindi are used. Mehtab, a student of the Punjabi department at PU, is among the leaders of the movement against the new signboards on campus. He stresses, “Chandigarh was created on land acquired from the farmers of Punjab, but the condition of Punjabi here is very poor. Most students come here from Punjab, most of them speak Punjabi. But still there are efforts of oppressing the regional language.” The students have submitted an application to the vice-chancellor demanding a change in the signboards, Arun Kumar Grover, and the deans of university instructions and social welfare. Mehtab said, “Around four years back, too, the same thing had happened, but Punjabi had then got its place back after protests.” The language movement is not on the campus alone but also in the state of Punjab, and across the border in Pakistan’s Punjab. In Punjab here, the language is seen at the third place on signboards after English and Hindi, something that Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi is also campaigning against. Punjabis across the border are fighting for “official status” to the language in Pakistan even after 70 years of Independence and the partition. Hundreds of poets, artists, students and journalists sat on a hunger strike on Friday outside Lahore Press Club, asking, “Punjabi da kasoor ki e? (What is Punjabi’s fault?)” Maqsood Saqib, a journalist from Lahore, has a study circle where university students are taught Punjabi and the writings of Waris Shah, Shah Hussain, Bulleh Shah, and Guru Nanak Dev, among others are discussed. “Punjabi is considered the servant’s language,” he said. It is spoken by 44% people in Pakistan. -PTC News-
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