Expressing shock and anguish at the manner in which the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, was “bulldozed” in the Parliament, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said that it was condemnable that the voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in support of Punjabi language had been muzzled.
“It is a matter of deep concern that parliamentary procedures have not been followed while putting up the Bill for approval before Parliament. The Bill was neither put on the agenda of the Lok Sabha yesterday nor the Rajya Sabha today. Even today, it was passed at the last minute in the absence of the opposition,” said Sukhbir.
This is the second time that the SAD which is already standing against its ally, the BJP, on the issue of farm bills, has lashed out on the saffron party for “misusing” its “brute majority” to pass a bill in the House. Earlier, the Akali Dal criticized the way the farm bills were passed in both the Houses — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — allegedly ignoring rules.
Sukhbir condemned that the Bill was taken up for approval without taking into consideration the objections of SAD as well as other regional parties of Jammu and Kashmir. “While speaking in the Lok Sabha, I had pointed out that Punjabi is not only the mother tongue of a large number of people of the Union Territory but is also a recognized language as per the Constitution of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir,” he pointed.
He added, “Dr Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, who is a former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, supported me and said that a sizable number of Kashmiris also spoke Punjabi. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also supported the inclusion of Punjabi as an official language in the union territory”.
Terming the entire development as a “sad day for democracy”, Sukhbir said that the founding fathers of the Constitution were inspired by a vision of India as a multi religious, multicultural and multilingual nation and respect for regional languages was seen an important tool to preserve and promote this ideal.
He also expressed anguish that while Punjabi had been excluded from the list of official languages, English had been included in the list. “This is sure to hurt the sentiments of Punjabis in Jammu and Kashmir as well as everywhere else”, he added.