Chandigarh, Sep 3 (PTI) Punjab Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday flayed the Centre over the exclusion of Punjabi language from the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, terming it as an attack on the federal structure of the country.

The Union Cabinet has approved a bill, under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory.

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Channi, while dubbing the decision "anti-minority", said the BJP-led Union government and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is part of it, are “equally responsible” for this move against the regional languages.

In a statement here, Channi said Punjabi was a part and parcel of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir before the abrogation of its special status.

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The minister said Punjabi was popular among a large population of Jammu and Kashmir and the move has hurt sentiments of lakhs of Punjabi-speaking people there.

By excluding the Punjabi language, the Government of India has taken an extreme step which has caused resentment among minorities not only in Jammu and Kashmir, but amongst all Punjabi-speaking population of the country, said the minister.

It is another attack on the federal structure of the country, he said.

He said Punjabi is not only one of the main languages in Punjab but also in all adjoining states like Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

The minister said even countries like Canada and the UK have given due recognition to Punjabi language at international level but in its own country, the BJP-led government has done this “shameful act”.

Channi attacked the Shiromani Akali Dal and said the Badal family, which is at the helm of the party, has become a “puppet” in the hands of the BJP just to save the ministry of Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Channi said the Union government has to face consequences of the “dictatorial” steps against the minorities.

He appealed to the Centre to review this “discriminatory move” and demanded that an amendment should be made in the bill to include Punjabi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)