Amritsar: After Maharashtra and southern states, the language war has now reached Punjab. A video of a man lecturing an official working at Amritsar's General Post Office for not being able to read Punjabi has surfaced online on Thursday (January 1). A verbal altercation began between the local and the official after the latter expressed his inability to read the Punjabi language.
In the viral clip, it could be seen that the man handed over a letter to the official to get it posted. However, the argument between the two started after the post office official asked the local to translate the text written in Punjabi on the envelope.
However, the local then told him that he is working in Punjab and should know the Punjabi language, as every day a large number of natives visit the post office for work.
"Maine toh isse post karna hai. Main aap se Hindi mein baat kar raha hoon. Aapka banta hai mere se Punjabi mein baat karne ka (I want to get it posted. I am speaking to you in Hindi. It is you who should speak to me in Punjabi)," the local could be heard telling the official.
In the clip, when the local slammed the post office employee for not learning Punjabi, the official turned towards his senior and sought help. "Sir batayein main kya karoon. Mujhe Punjabi aati nahi hai, maine bola mujhe padh kar bata do. Usmein bhi takleef hai. (Sir, please tell me what to do now. I am asking him to read and tell me, but he has a problem with that as well)," the employee said
Then the local interrupted and said, "Humein batane mein takleef nahi hai. Humein bada khed hai ke aap Punjab mein, Punjab ke office mein yahaan pe aake baithe ho, chahe Central government ka hai. Lekin aapko Punjabi toh aani chahiye na. Punjabi log yahaan pe saare aa rahe hain, aapko Punjabi aani chahiye. (We do not have any trouble in telling you, but we are disappointed that you are in Punjab and working here, even under the Central government. You should have learnt Punjabi. All Punjabi people are coming here and you should know Punjabi)."
Another employee intervened and tried to calm down the local.
The man also highlighted that the names of counters inside the post office are written only in Hindi and English and not in the Punjabi language. "Boards inside Amritsar's largest post office do not have Punjabi language written on them. All are written in English and Hindi," the man said.
Reportedly, the matter did not escalate.
In the recent past, similar incidents have also surfaced from several southern states and even from Maharashtra, where local groups were seen imposing local languages on employees working at Central government offices.
In April this year, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers thrashed a bank employee in Pune district's Lonavala for not using Marathi in daily business transactions.
Meanwhile, in May this year, a State Bank of India (SBI) branch manager in the Chandrapura area of Karnataka's capital Bengaluru faced criticism after she refused to speak in Kannada. She was reportedly transferred.
