Episode no 87
This interview with Dr. Tejwant Singh Mann was published on 6 October 2022. His first book came out in 1968 and so far he has written about 65 books. At the beginning of the interview, he gave his opinion on the controversial statement of one country, one language. Apart from this, Dr. Tejwant Singh Mann also shared his views on the statement given by Gurdas Mann about Punjabi language during an interview and a stage show. Dr. Mann said that BJP’s only issue is to make India a Hindu state. So they interfere in every institution and university because they want only Hindi to be considered as the national language. While there are 27 national languages. He said that Hindi is a communication language and as India is a country with diversity, different states have different culture, similarly the language cannot be one. He said that Gurdas Mann had given a statement that if Punjabi is the mother tongue then Hindi is like aunt to us, about this statement he said that it is completely wrong and should have been opposed. He said that like Hans Raj Hans, Gurdas Maan also wanted to please the BJP. Because Hans Raj Hans used to say that the name of Nehru University should be changed to Modi University. He said that the Center also instructed the VC of Punjabi University to Hindiize Punjabi. He said that Punjabi language is a language that has been going on since 800 AD which is 600 years before the time of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. In this interview, he also discussed in detail about Punjabi language and script. About Balraj Sahni and Khushwant Singh, he said that they did not write their writings in Punjab because they wrote more from a commercial point of view than creative writing. Finally, while talking about Surjit Patar, he shared his thoughts about the importance of literature.
~Kulwinder Kaur Bajwa