Exhorting the people to become ambassadors of rich cultural heritage of state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called upon every Punjabi to work whole heartedly for strengthening the ethos of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat. Addressing the gathering after releasing ‘Lok Geet’- the seventh musical album of Editor-in-Chief of Ajit group of newspapers Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard here today at Lovely Professional University, the Chief Minister said that Punjab has a glorious cultural heritage and the need of the hour was to perpetuate it amongst our younger generations. He said that every Punjabi must come forward to promote the ethos of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat so that the youngsters could be made aware of this rich cultural legacy of the state.The Chief Minister said that Punjabis have been blessed with an indomitable spirit of hard work, dedication and patriotism. He said that due to these qualities Punjabis have proved their mettle in every sphere. Mr. Badal recalled the stellar role of Punjabis during Indian freedom movement, making the country self reliant in food production and defending the borders of the country nation.
However, the Chief Minister bemoaned that Punjabis suffered a lot due to partition and several injustices done by the successive Congress governments at centre. But, he said that walking on the path shown by the great Gurus the Punjabis have always waged struggle against tyranny, oppression and injustice. On the occasion Mr. Badal called upon the journalistic fraternity to come forward and highlight the injustices with Punjab so as to make people aware about it. Lauding Mr Hamdard for doing yeoman service of Punjabi culture by bringing this album on folk songs, the Chief Minister said that it would go a long way in perpetuating the rich cultural heritage of our state amongst our younger generations. Describing Dr.. Hamdard as an institution, he said that the Chief Editor of Ajit group was a multi faced personality who had proved his mettle in every field. Mr Badal recalled the role played by Dr Hamdard in construction of Virasat –e-Khalsa, which was admired by even Canadian Prime Minister, during his visit to state adding that now also he has fully dedicated himself for construction of Jang e Azaadi memorial, which was coming up near Kartarpur.The Chief Minister said that Dr Hamdard would ever act as a lighthouse for younger generations to preserve and promote rich cultural heritage of the state. Mr Badal said that Dr Hamdard had followed the footsteps of his great father Dr Sadhu Singh Hamdard, who also served the Punjab with his prolific writings. “But above all as a true son of soil Dr Hamdard has done a great service of his state and its people”, he added.
Later on thanking the Chief Minister for sparing his precious time for releasing this album, Dr Hamdard said that Punjab has a rich legacy of folk songs, writers and singers. He said that this album was a tribute to rich cultural heritage of the state.Prominent amongst other present on the occasion included Rajya Sabha MP Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Cabinet Ministers Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema and Mr Sharanjeet Singh Dhillon, Lok Sabha MP Mr Sher Singh Ghubaya, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Mr KD Bhandari, Sant Balbir Singh Ghunas, Mr Avinash Chander, Mr. Pawan Teenu, Mr. Des Raj Dhugga, Mr. Som Parkash, Chaudhary Nand Lal and Mrs Farzaana Aalam, MLAs Mr Pargat Singh, Mr Gobind Singh Longowal and Mr SR Kler, former Ministers Ms. Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, Bibi Upinder jeet Kaur and Jathedar Sewa Singh Sekhwan, former state BJP chief Mr Kamal Sharma, former MP Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman District Planning Committee Kapurthala Mr Sarabjeet Singh Makkar, Principal Secretary Health Mrs Vinnie Mahajan, Joint Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr Kumar Amit, Deputy Commissioner Mr Jaskiran Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police Mr Rajinder Singh.