Delhi, Sept 23, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Former PPC president and Rajya Sabha Member Partap Singh Bajwa today said that he was extremely dejected by the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 by both Houses of Parliament, without the inclusion of Punjabi within the ambit of the Bill.
In a statement issued here, Bajwa said he had spoken on this issue on 16th September, 2020 during the Zero Hour as well as had written a letter to the Prime Minister on this issue.
It must be mentioned here that the history of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir are inextricably linked. It was in 1808 after the Battle of Jammu whereby, the province of Jammu came under the control of the Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
After the collapse of the Mughal Rule in Delhi, in 1752, Ahmad Shah Durrani from Afghanistan captured the province of Kashmir. For the next 67 years till 1819, Kashmir was under the control of the Afghans. From then on, the province of Kashmir was governed by the Sikh Empire, which brought the region within the geographical boundaries of modern India.
In 1822, Maharaja Ranjit Singh appointed Gulab Singh as the Governor of the province of Jammu. Further in 1834 under General Zorawar Singh, the region of Ladakh was brought into the Sikh Empire. In 1846, the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was created by the British by merging these three separate regions entities into a single state under Maharaja Gulab Singh Jamwal of the Dogra Dynasty.
For over 200 years there has been a close link between the peoples of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, where today there are many who speak Punjabi and live within the Union Territory. The first Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was the Hon. Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan, who later on went on to become the 3rd Chief Justice of India, was a Punjabi.
As per the 1971 census over 13 lakh Punjabis lived in Jammu and Kashmir. The language is also spoken by many former Chief Ministers of the State. Given its extensive history, it is absolutely disappointing that the Government of India still did not consider giving the language its due.
It seems to me that there is an individual somewhere within the administration who is carrying out a sustained campaign against the State of Punjab. In the last year we have had to continuously plead with the Central Government over the unpaid GST dues to the State, which now amounts to roughly Rs. 7,000 Crores. Now the Government has pushed forward with legislation to dismantle the MSP system and through those Bills hurt our farmers. Now through the J&K Official Languages Bill, our very identity has been attacked.
It constantly befuddles me as to why the State has continuously come under such pressures from the Government of India. The State of Punjab has constantly sacrificed for India. From being the sword arm, protecting our borders, to becoming the food bowl, feeding our countrymen, Punjab has always been on the forefront of aiding India. We have always strived to implement the best policies as suggested by the Central Government.
The people of Punjab have not only seen the degradation of its environment to feed the nation, but also seen the health costs that have arisen due to its efforts during the Green Revolution. Since September 20th, 2020 I have been left deeply shaken by the actions of this Government. I will continue my fight to protect the interests of Punjab, but all of these events in the last three days leaves me with a simple question, why always us?
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