Education Minister again fails to take oath in Punjabi

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 24

Aruna Chaudhary, who had taken oath in Hindi during her swearing-in as the Minister of State for Education last week, did it in English today while being sworn in as an MLA.

Her husband Ashok Chaudhary, a retired bureaucrat, said the minister was not “comfortable” with the Punjabi language due to “her educational background”.

Aruna is heading the school and higher education departments, besides the Languages Department, which is involved in the promotion of Punjabi — the state’s official language.

Ashok Chaudhary told The Tribune, “My wife completed her studies in Jammu and Kashmir, where Punjabi was not part of the school or college curriculum. So, she is more comfortable with Hindi and English rather than Punjabi.”

In her nomination papers for the Assembly elections, Aruna had declared her “highest qualification” as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education from Kashmir University. “What promotion of the language can we expect from an Education Minister who is not well versed in Punjabi?” asked Sukhdev Singh Sirsa, president of the Punjab Sahitya Akademi.

The minister could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.