Talk to your kids in Punjabi: Aman Arora

Aam Aadmi Party state president Aman Arora on Friday urged parents to speak with their kids in Punjabi at home. He said this while attending the flag off of a march taken out by the Punjabi Jagriti Manch on the occasion of “Maa Boli Diwas” at Lyallpur Khalsa School, Nakodar Road, today.

“Give mother tongue its due respect. It is our identity. It gives us recognition,” he told the gathering while congratulating everyone and emphasising on the importance of use of Punjabi in everyday life. The march was flagged off by Cabinet Minister Mohinder Bhagat.

School and college students, staff, artistes, politicians, bureaucrats and social organisations were among those, who participated in the march, which started from the school campus to went up to Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall.

Deepak Bali, Punjabi Jagriti Manch secretary and Advisor to the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, led the march.

AAP leaders Rajwinder Kaur Thiara, MLA Raman Arora, Mayor Vaneet Dhir, Deputy Mayor Malkit Singh, Pawan Tinu and Chandan Grewal were also present at the event.

Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner (DC), Dr Himanshu Aggarwal, was also present on the occasion. Singers Gurnam Bhullar, Kamal Heer, Jazzy B, Preet Harpal and Dalwinder Dayalpuri entertained school and college students with their songs.

Students of government schools, Cambridge School and Innocent Hearts participated in the event. They held placards giving out the message via thought-provoking slogans, underscoring the significance of preserving the linguistic roots.

Bali said this was 16th year since the programme was being organised. He said, “There is a need to promote Punjabi mother tongue on a large scale.” He emphasised on the mandatory teaching of the Punjabi language in all educational institutions and called for the society’s cooperation in this effort.

He said Mother Language Day should be celebrated as a festival. He said the Punjab Government had made a significant contribution to elevate the status of Punjabi. He further said that a person’s identity was rooted in his mother tongue. “Learning more language is good, but one should not abandon his mother tongue, he added.

Singer Jazzy B appealed to children, parents and school teachers to prioritise their mother tongue Punjabi. Sharing his example, Jazzy B shared said if Punjabi was not his mother tongue, he would have been working somewhere else today.

The Punjabi Sahit Sabha of DAV College also organised a lecture on the topic “Punjabi language: Scope, opportunities and challenges”. The lecture was delivered by Punjabi storywriter and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Dr Waryam Singh Sandhu. Principal Dr Rajesh Kumar, Prof Sukhdev Singh Randhawa, head, PG Department of Punjabi, and others gave the distinguished speaker a warm welcome. The event commenced with a welcome address by Prof Sukhdev Singh Randhawa, who introduced the guest speaker, and paid heartfelt tribute to students martyred during the struggle for linguistic rights in Dhaka, Bangladesh.