On Tuesday, May 30, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) made an appeal to the Panjab University located in Chandigarh to take back its decision to drop Punjabi as a compulsory subject at the level of graduation in all the colleges that are affiliated with it. The party even warned the university that this discrimination against their mother tongue will never go down well with the Punjabis.
Daljit Singh Cheema, Senior Leader, SAD, also shared with media persons how the members of the syndicate who lent their support to this decision do not deserve to be members, as stated in a report by IANS.
"Panjab University is part of the state capital which was established by uprooting villages of Punjab. As many as 200 colleges in Punjab are affiliated to the university. The university cannot discriminate against the mother tongue of the region," he said.
AAP leader takes it to VP
On the other hand, Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Sahney took up the matter with Vice-President of India and Chancellor of Panjab University, Jagdeep Dhankhar, via a letter.
In the letter, the Rajya Sabha member wrote that this decision of the Syndicate is contrary to the Punjab Language Act and "needs to be rectified immediately". He also pointed out that when the Board of Studies and the Language Faculty have recommended to keep Punjab as a compulsory subject, the syndicate cannot take such a decision.