Nayar blames Punjabis for poor state of their mother tongue

Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar today blamed the Punjabis for the increasing neglect of their mothertongue and said the real danger to the Punjabi language was from the Punjabis who were showing a distaste for learning and promoting the language.

Delivering an address on the subject of ''Punjabi language, literature and culture in 21st century'' at a two-day National Seminar organsied by the Postgraduate Department of Punjabi, government college Ambala Cantonment today, Mr Nayar expressed regret that the new generation did not show interest in learning or even speaking Punjabi language. He said it was wrong to say that Punjabi was facing danger from national and link language Hindi.

''We should stress upon adopting Punjabi as regional language and making new generation aware of the richness of the language,'' he opined. He also came down heavily upon the ''Akali tendency'' of reducing the language to the small state of Punjab, hampering its chances of development. ''Punjabi was language of the Punjabis and not of Sikhs as was being propagated by some vested interests. Punjabi was the language of over 10 crore people spread all over the world and 7 crore in Pakistan,'' he stressed.

The veteran journalist also disclosed that he had a proposal to set up a museum on Indo-Pak border which would highlight the happenings of partition of 1947. Earlier, Sahitya Academy vice president Dr Sutinder Singh Noor read out keynote address expressing his views on challenges being faced by Punjabi language in the 21st century.

-- (UNI) -- 05DR74.xml

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