Former cricket player Navjot Singh Sidhu may have been caught laughing at poor jokes on television, but as a state's minister for culture, Sidhu has taken a decision that Punjabis fond of their mother tongue will hail as long overdue.
On Saturday, Sidhu announced the setting up of 'Punjab Sabhyacharak Commission' to primarily check vulgarity in Punjabi songs. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will be the patron-in-chief and Sidhu will be the patron.
For a long time now, a popular quip was that Punjab's only culture was agriculture. Whatever passed for songs or plays were packed with puns and double entendres. It is another matter that the borderline vulgar content attracted significant crowds.
The last decade saw the mainstreaming of a new wave of Punjabi songwriters and singers, along with theatre personalities, who attempted to market clean content. But not all of them were successful. While singers and rappers like Yo Yo Honey Singh boasted a massive following, club DJs were left to mute parts of songs which would generally be considered obscene. There are tunes youngsters describe as “non-veg” or “blue” songs.
Sahitya Akademi award-winning Punjabi poet and writer Surjit Patar appears to have influenced Sidhu in setting up the commission that will submit its first report, on the status of vulgarity in popular Punjabi songs, within two weeks. Patar, who says the commission is apolitical, will chair the commission and nominate members to the new body.
In Punjabi literary circles, the move has been welcomed. So far, nobody has raised doubts as to whether the new move would be tantamount to policing lyricists, even though the commission has been authorised to register police complaints whenever they notice vulgar content. The question remains: under what sections of the IPC will the commission proceed against lyricists and musicians? That has not been clarified yet.