PM must intervene to restore status of Punjabi language: Maluka

Chandigarh, July 10, 2013: The Punjab Language and Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka have pressed upon the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to personally intervene in the devastating move of Delhi University (DU) to undermine the status of Punjabi language.

In a press statement issued here today, Maluka said that the recent move of the DU has unveiled the brewing resentment among the large Punjabi Diaspora residing across the globe, who have decided to come out on the street to restore the dignity and grandeur of the Punjabi language. He said that on one hand the different countries are recognizing the Punjabi language by granting it an official language status, whereas on the other hand the Punjabi language is being degraded in its own country.

He said that the Punjabi community would not tolerate such an insulting move against its mother-tongue. He said that earlier the Punjabi language was being taught as a compulsory subject in 15 colleges. Now, as per the new diktat, the DU has decided to allow only three affiliated colleges to teach Punjabi, the second language in the Capital, as a main subject to under-graduate students under its recently introduced four-year undergraduate program.

Maluka said that the Punjabi community to launch a massive agitation campaign in the national capital to press upon the UPA government for restoring the erstwhile status of the Punjabi language in Delhi University and its affiliated colleges.