Greater Punjab Movement, India

The Proposed Greater Punjab movement is a constitutional demand that includes political activities organised by various individuals, Punjabi organizations and political parties like native Akali Dal party of current Indian Punjab, for expansionism of current Indian Punjab by incorporating the neighboring Punjabi-speaking areas of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh, within the republic of India, with Chandigarh as its proposed capital. The proposed Greater Punjab state corresponds to the five districts of Haryana, three districts of Himachal Pradesh, two districts of Rajasthan and Chandigarh city as a whole.[1][2] The total area and population of the proposed Greater Punjab state is 92,935 Km² and 40,989,745 as per 2011 Census respectively.[3]

Indian Punjab and its neighbouring Punjabi-speaking areas.

Expansion demand

Proposed Greater Punjab (Punjab expansion) map marked in light green, lies between the proposed Maru Pradesh and Jammu.

The Native Punjab mainstream Akali Dal party time to time have demanded to the Central Government of India to incorporate the neighbouring Punjabi-speaking areas of Himachal Pradesh's (Una, Kangra and Solan), Haryana's (Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Fatehabad and Sirsa), Rajasthan's (Hanumangarh and Sri Ganganagar districts) and Union territory of Chandigarh city to current Punjab, India for its expansionism by quoting that those areas historically belongs to the land of Punjab and that States Reorganisation Commission under Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 have failed to delivered justice at that time by not incorporating those areas with Indian Punjab even after knowing that those regions are linguistically, ethnically, geographically and culturally similar to Indian Punjab in every aspects.[4][5][6][7]

Geographical distribution

Geographical distribution of Punjabi dialects and languages.

Apart from Indian Punjab, dialects of Punjabi language such as Malwai, Powadhi (Puadhi), Bhattiani/Rathi and Doabi etc are also spoken natively across the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh respectively.[8]

The Puadh region consists of the eastern districts of Punjab, the north-western portions of Haryana and the southernmost strip of Himachal Pradesh.
The Puadhi speaking areas of Punjab and Haryana.

The Puadhi dialect has many words that differ from other dialects of Punjabi. However, Puadhi have been regarded as dialect of Punjabi. Many Puadhi speaking areas like Ambala division and Karnal division's Kaithal district were allocated to Haryana after 1966 East Punjab state trifurcation.[9]

References

  1. "Punjabi Suba: What's there to celebrate?". The Tribune India.
  2. "Five things to know about Akali Dal as it turns 102 today". Indian Express. December 14, 2022.
  3. https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/
  4. "Sukhbir Badal seeks transfer of Chandigarh, Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab". India Today. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  5. "PM should transfer Chandigarh, Punjabi speaking areas to state: SAD president Sukhbir Badal". Hindustan Times. 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  6. "Merge Punjabi speaking areas of Rajasthan in Punjab, SAD(A) writes to President". www.babushahi.com. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  7. "50 years of Punjabi Suba & still no closure". The Tribune India.
  8. The Digital South Asia Library https://dsal.uchicago.edu › fr...PDF introduction.
  9. The Digital South Asia Library https://dsal.uchicago.edu › fr...PDF introduction.


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