Bhalla bats for Punjabi, Pahari, Balti languages
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 3: Various political parties and leaders have welcomed the Government decision on inclusion of Dogri, Kashmiri and Hindi as the official languages.
Parliament Member and senior BJP leader, Jugal Kishore Sharma who is indisposed at present in a WhatSap message while welcoming the decision said onwards the official work will also be done in Dogri. It may be recalled that Jugal Kishore Sharma has raised the issue number of times and also took oath in Dogri language in Lok Sabha after his election as its member from Jammu-Rajouri –Paoonch Parliamentary constituency.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee has also welcomed the inclusion of Dogri, Kashmiri, Hindi, Urdu besides English as the new official languages of Jammu and Kashmir but sought official recognition to other largely spoken languages like Punjabi, Gojri and Pahari besides Sheena, Bhaderwahi etc in order to truly respect the multi lingual and multi cultural diversity of Jammu and Kashmir.
Chairperson of Waqf Development Committee of Union Minority Affairs Ministry and BJP spokesperson, Dr Darakhshan Andrabi complimented the Central Government for accepting her proposal of approving Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and English as the official languages for J&K. She gave special compliments to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Amit Shah, I&B Minister, Prakash Javdekar and Minister of State in PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh for respecting her unique proposal for including five languages as official languages for J&K. “This is a historical decision of the visionary Cabinet of Prime Minster of India., I had submitted an elaborate proposal to the Union Government which I am happy was accepted on merit,” said Dr Darakhshan.
Former Minister and senior Congress leader, Raman Bhalla on Thursday urged LG Sinha to communicate to Union Government to include Punjabi, Gojri, Ladakhi, Pahari languages in list of official languages of J&K to respect their aspirations and sentiments which have been badly hurt by keeping them out of list of official languages in J&K. He said Pahari, Punjabi and Balti should also be given prominence in order to save them from extinction, otherwise it will deepen the sense of regionalism and identity crisis among the people speaking these languages. Bhalla flayed the Centre over the exclusion of Punjabi from the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, describing the move as “anti-minority”. “Exclusion of Punjabi from the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 is an anti-minority move,” Bhalla expressed happiness over the inclusion of the Dogri, but said all regional languages must be duly recognised and respected.
Appreciating the decision of Union Cabinet of approving the introduction of Jammu & Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020in the Parliament, which will make five languages namely Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri, Urdu & English as the official languages of UT of J&K, BJP J&K Executive Member, Raman Suri today said that a long pending demand of the people of UT stands fulfilled.
Expressing his gratitude to Union Minister in PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh and Member of Parliament, Jugal Kishore for their persistent campaign and for taking up the matter with Union Government from time to time of including Dogri as an official language in Jammu and Kashmir, Suri said, now that Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri can also be used as medium of language in official documents in Jammu and Kashmir.
Dogra Front and Shiv Sena activists under the leadership of their president, Ashok Gupta celebrated the declaration of Dogri as official language of J&K.
Sweets were distributed and drums were beaten on this occasion.
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