Worried that an alarming number of Punjabi and Sindhi youth are moving away from their culture, prominent personalities from the communities will encourage them to converse in their mother tongue.
The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have taken on the mantle of safeguarding Marathi culture. Following in their footsteps, but bereft of political motives, Sindhis and Punjabis want to do the same for their respective communities.
Worried that an alarming number of Punjabi and Sindhi youth are moving away from their culture, prominent personalities from the communities will encourage them to converse among themselves in their mother tongue. In an initiative to promote their languages, the Sindhi and the Punjabi forums have organised an event at the National College in Bandra on Sunday.
“The youth from both communities will be asked questions in their
mother tongue. If they answer fluently in the language, they will be rewarded with mobile handsets,” said Pradeep Bhavanani, president, Bharatiya Sindhi Samaj. “The questions will be related to tradition and culture. Elderly people will be judges.”
The forum has invited world billiards champion Pankaj Advani, deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and actor Salman Khan to help inspire a sense of pride in traditions and culture. Kulwant Singh, general secretary, Shree Guru Singh Sabha, said, “It’s a good initiative. We too conduct classes in Gurumukhi.”
They even have the blessings of the MNS, which claims to fight for the Marathi manoos and endorses the use of Marathi in the city.
The MNS says there is nothing wrong if a community wants to promote its culture. “Everybody has the right to do whatever is needed to maintain his or her tradition. I don’t see anything wrong,” MNS leader Shishir Shinde said. There are about 22 lakh Sindhis and 12 lakh Punjabis in Mumbai and Thane.
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