Sociology prof delivers lectures to jail inmates to bring change within

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 3

To instill the virtue of forgiveness among jail inmates on the eve of the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, an assistant professor, Sociology, Post Graduate Government College, Sector 46, is delivering lectures in seven jails across Haryana and even the Burail jail.

Panditrao Dharenavar, starting today, is delivering a 45-minute speech related to Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘Zafarnama’ (the letter by the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1705) and the 12th century ‘Vachan sahit’ of Karnataka.

Panditrao says that both the texts talk about forgiveness as a virtue and if instilled, can reform a person. This is why he approached the Haryana and Chandigarh jail department and got the approval. On Thursday morning, he will visit the Burail jail in Chandigarh while today he visited the Ambala jail and will cover six more jails across Haryana in the next seven days. The other six jails include the ones in Kurukshetra, Jind, Rohtak, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal.

The author of 12 books, Panditrao is originally from Karnataka but learnt Punjabi. He has translated many Sikh scriptures into Kannada language. He came to Chandigarh in 2003 when he joined the Government College for Girls, Sector 42 and is currently at the Sector 46 college. Panditrao says, “I came from Karnataka but today, I deliver my lectures in Punjabi and I feel that the words of Guru Sahib should reach out to one and all.”

The assistant professor adds that he sent a letter to the Punjab jail department as well but is yet to receive a response from them. On his experience in Ambala jail today, Panditrao says he received a wonderful response from the inmates who heard him patiently and understood all that he said. The professor plans to take forward his lectures in jails all over India.

In the past, the professor has protested on the issues of signboards in Chandigarh not being in Punjabi and the lack of Punjabi medium schools in the city. In November last year, he delivered a lecture in a government school of the city and announced a scholarship of Rs 12,000 from his salary for students who would take up Punjabi in classes XI and XII.