New Delhi: On the first day of Parliament’s winter session on Wednesday, the echo of Punjabi language was heard in the Rajya Sabha as documents given on the floor of the House were also in Punjabi language, apart from conventional Hindi and English.
Rajya Sabha member and environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal had raised this issue during the monsoon session and demanded that documents must be given to him in Punjabi – his mother tongue.
Congratulating all the Punjabis for this feather in their cap, the environmentalist took the opportunity to thank Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and expressed his gratitude towards them for sending him to the Rajya Sabha to represent Punjab. “We are trying to keep the issues of Punjab alive in the Rajya Sabha.” Seechewal said that former Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu was very active in promoting regional languages. Naidu used to say “why a member should stand up and ask for documents in his mother tongue – he should be informed in advance in his own language”, Seechewal added.
President of Punjabi Sahitya Akademi Ludhiana and secretary of Punjab Kala Parishad, Dr Lakhwinder Singh Johal, said that getting documents in Punjabi in Parliament is a historic achievement and Seechewal has played a key role achieving this feat.
Earlier, Seechewal welcomed the new chairman of Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar, and thanked him and all the members of the Rajya Sabha who supported him on the issue of the Punjabi language.
For the uninitiated, the vice-president is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha.