Celebrating the language of culture

Amarjot Kaur 

Punjab’s mother tongue, Punjabi, plays a rather crucial role in defining not just the region’s culture, but also its politics, fusing region with religion. While thinkers and intellectuals perceive there’s a contextual drift in the usage of the language in modern times, they fear that Punjabi’s popularity stands on a volatile ground, especially at the hands of the mediums propagating it. Though Punjabi music spells their prime cause of concern, there are other worries associated with the language and its propagation that haunts them. To celebrate what is left of Punjabi that provokes a thinking mind and to bring back its sheen, the Punjab Arts Council is celebrating Ma-Boli Diwas on February 21 at Punjab Kala Bhawan.

Surjit Patar, a renowned Punjabi poet, writer, and the chairperson of Punjab Arts Council, had earlier expressed his concern over Punjabi losing connect with its masses. The idea of celebrating the Ma-Boli Diwas is a product of his constructively critical thinking. He had earlier organised such an event in 2005, in Ludhiana, when he served as the chairperson of Punjab Sahit Akademi. “In 1999, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day, in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world,” he says. The Language Movement was a political movement in former East Bengal (today Bangladesh) advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan in order to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.

“Punjabi is losing out on avenues that promote the language. Our education system is to be blamed too. Many scholars and literary scientists argue that mother tongue should be taught in schools at the primary level. Only after the student gets the hang of their mother tongue, should he/she be taught any other language,” he opines. 

Asserting that Punjabi suffers the blows of shoddily penned commercial Punjabi songs, Patar shares that there is a need to look closely at Punjabi from a commercial perspective. “It’s the businessmen who want their songs to sell, for which they will stoop to any length, caring nothing for the language or for the region’s culture. However, there have been people like Gurdas Maan and Satinder Sartaj, who have defied the commercial norms of Punjabi music industry. We need more people like them,” he adds.

That Punjabi language is often accused of lacking scientific temperament, Patar opines that the terminology can remain the same, giving to Punjabi a global flavour. After all, Oxford takes in words from many different languages.  

At the event, Punjab Arts Council will honour two non-Punjabi people for their contribution to the language; one being Sanjay Nahar and the other Prof Pandit Rao Dharennavar.