People of Jammu district on Thursday celebrated inclusion of Dogri in the list of official languages for Jammu and Kashmir while Sikhs, Pahari and Gujjars express resentment over neglect of their language in the list.
President, Dogri Sanstha, Prof Lalit Mangotra said they welcome the decision of the Union government to include Dogri in the list of official languages for J&K.
“The decision will give new lease of life to the Dogri language as it will be implemented in legal, judicial and educational systems as well,” said Mangotra, who is Sahitya Akademi awardee
He said the government would be required manpower to ensure the language flourishes. “We request that all the Universities of Jammu, Dogri should be introduced at the post graduation level,” Mangotra said.
He said Dogri should also be introduced in the schools at primary level, secondary, and higher education level.
Meanwhile, members of Sikh Pahari and Gujjar community protested the government decision to neglect their language in the official list of languages. They termed the decision of the Union government as “injustice” and demanded inclusion of their languages in the list.
Annoyed with the neglect of Punjabi language, Sikh community members led by TS Wazir, took out a protest rally here. “We will not tolerate injustice,” the angry Sikh protesters said while taking out a march from Gurudwara near Chand Nagar to Dogra Chowk. Wazir demanded that Punjabi should be declared as one of the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
He said if government does not include Punjabi as one of the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir, they will come on the roads.
Similarly, Gujjars and Bakkerwal were also unhappy with the government of India for neglecting Gojri language. “We hail the decision of Union cabinet in which five languages – Urdu, Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and English were chosen as official languages. However, Gojri language deserves inclusion in the list on merit of being the oldest and third largest spoken language in J&K,” said Tribal Researcher, Dr Javaid Rahi.
He said former Governor, NN Vohra and two Chief Ministers of J&K had also written separate communications to the Union Home Ministry recommending inclusion of Gojri in the eight schedules. He appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare Gori as one of the official languages of the Union Territory.