Punjabiyat

Punjabiyat, meaning "Punjabiness", is a movement amongst Punjabis that supports closer links with their cultural traditions and lifestyle. It also supports language revitalization of Punjabi.

Aims and goals

In Pakistan, its goal is a better status of Punjabi language along with Urdu at state level. In India, its goal is to bring together the Sikh, Hindu and Muslim communities.

The movement's supporters in the Punjabi diaspora focus on the promotion of a shared cultural heritage.

Link to Sikh nationalism

Panjabiyat also has close links to Sikh nationalism due to the religious significance of Punjabi and Gurmukhi script in Sikhism. With the advent of the notion of Devanagari script and Hindi or Sanskrit as a language associated with Hindu nationalism and Arya Samaj advancing the cause of Devanagari in the late 19th century, the cause of Gurmukhi was advanced by Singh Sabha Movement. This later culminated in Punjabi Suba movement where Sikhs who mostly identified Punjabi as their mother tongue, while Hindus identifying with Hindi in the census, leading to trifurcation of state on a linguistic basis in 1966 and the formation of a Sikh majority, Punjabi speaking state in India. During the Khalistan movement, Kharkus were known to enforce Punjabi language, Gurmukhi script and traditional Punjabi cultural dress in Punjab. SGPC in its 1946 Sikh State resolution declared the Punjab region as the natural homeland of the Sikhs. Anandpur Sahib Resolution also links Sikhism to Punjab as a Sikh homeland.