Chandigarh: Amid the Bhagwant Mann led Punjab AAP government's directive to write names of establishments in Punjabi, Prof Pandit Rao Dharennavar, who led the campaign to promote Punjabi in the state has said that the government was not serious in its endeavor. Prof Rao demanded that a law should be introduced to give Punjabi language its due share.
In an exclusive interview to ETV Bharat, Prof Rao said, “The government has issued a decree to give priority to Punjabi everywhere, which is showing its effect. But, the government itself is not serious. The government is pronouncing the decree, but it is not making efforts to make the people aware of the issue," he said.
Prof Rao also said that there is a need to introduce a law if the government is serious in promoting Punjabi. “If the government works on this front, the Punjabi language will become very strong. If the government was serious, no one would have violated the Language Act by now. No language policy has been applied in the state,” he said.
Also read: Professor hailing from Karnataka on a mission to promote Punjabi language
The Punjab government had recently issued a directive to write names of all establishments in Punjabi. However the move drew flak from the opposition as the directive from the Chief Minister had allegedly been issued in English. BJP spokesman, Gurdeep Singh Gosha had also written a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in this regard.
In the letter, Gosha urged the Chief Minister to fix things on ground rather than imposing the orders. Gosha asked the Chief minister to instruct the bureaucrats to learn Punjabi. However, Prof Rao claimed that the Chief Minister's office had clarified that the letter was issued in both Punjabi and English languages.
Prof Rao said that people are coming forward to write boards in Punjabi language and giving preference to their mother tongue. Due to lack of money, many shopkeepers are asking the government for more time, Rao said. It can be recalled that Prof Rao, who hails from Karnataka, had undertaken a crusade to promote Punjabi in Punjab.
