‘Religion divides, language connects’

Amarjot Kaur

At the time when Punjab burnt in the flames of communal violence, a man from Maharashtra mobilised some 2,000 people in Pune for a peace march on Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary in 1985. Sanjay Nahar, and marchers, shouted slogans: Hindu-Sikh bhai bhai when a Sikh man interrupted him. “Hindu-Sikh bhai bhai hai, do you doubt it? Don’t just say it, show it; you’d only scream that out loud if you doubted it,” the man said to Nahar. 

“I realised something that day — shouting slogans alone won’t do. I returned to Punjab. The first time I visited the state was in 1984. There was bloodshed, anger, and violence that words can’t express. I headed for Gurdaspur and started meeting people. Militancy was at its peak then,” begins the 51-year-old, a science teacher at Pune’s SP College. 

He has translated 24 Punjabi literary texts from English/Punjabi to Marathi and organised the first ever Vishava Punjabi Literary Festival in 2016 (on Guru Gobind Singh ji’s 350th birth anniversary) and was honoured for his contribution to Punjabi language at the International Ma Boli Diwas, organised by Punjab Arts Council, at Punjab Kala Bhawan, on Wednesday. In 2015, in Ghuman, he organised all-India Marathi literary festival that was attended by more than 20,000 people. 

Connecting the dots 

Sanjay would travel from village to village, in Punjab, mobilising peace marches. “In Fatehgarh Churiya, a man named Sarabjit Singh Bhinder warned us, looking at our appearances. A few Hindus had been killed in Moga. We were chanting slogans from the Guru’s teachings. He asked if anyone in our family was martyred and spoke of sacrifices his community had made for the nation. Sikhs felt betrayed,” says Nahar. 

“I pacified the Sikh man telling him about how we had come there to share the pain of his community. In Mehta Chowk, Gurdaspur, every child wanted to pick up guns. Just nine-km away in Ghuman, not a person was attracted to militancy. Sant Namdev from Maharashtra had spent his last years in that village; his writings find a mention in the holy book of Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib. The villagers warmed up to us. That’s what connects Maharashtra to Punjab — language,” he says.

Nahar tells us about other connecting links between Punjab and Maharashtra. “In 1988, Punjab witnessed heavy floods. Datatray Gaykowad died while saving many Sikh families. He belonged to the Chibba community of Maharashtra and Aakhand Path was organised for his death ceremony, which was attended by thousands of people,” he says. Every year, his organisation Sarhad gives a Namdev Award to a Punjabi. Namdev knew 22 languages. “Be it Amrita Pritam or Khushwant Singh, Punjabi writers are much-loved in Maharashra. In fact, Bollywood romanticises Punjab like anything” he adds. 

Language, religion & politics

Punjabi, a language that has its roots in the holy scriptures of Sikhs, inadvertently fuses with religion, giving a distinct curve to the region’s socio-political scenario. Nahar opines, “Religion divides, language connects. Pakistani activists like Dip Sayeed of Bhagat Singh Foundation want Lahore’s Shadhman Chowk’s name to be changed to Bhagat Singh Chowk. They speak Punjabi here and in Lahore too. Urdu is not the national language of Pakistan,” he says. 

Englishman in New York

Though English, observes Nahar, is a connecting medium between different regional languages even in India, he doesn’t dismiss its functionality. “It is a rozi-roti ki bhasha, but it must never dominate our mother tongue. We need to preserve the dignity of regional languages, English can be used as a connecting medium for this,” he says. 

Presently, he teaches Marathi to some 39 Kashmiri students. 

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