Postcards from Sindhis on Edge

The community is sending 500,000 postcards to the PM0 asking for a Doordarshan channel

MUMBAI ~ For some time now, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be receiving a stream of postcards from India’s Sindhi community with a rather unusual demand—a 24-hour Doordarshan television channel of their own.

It has been a demand pending with the UPA Government since 2008. It was argued by the community that Sindhi is the only language among the 22 listed in the Eighth schedule of the Constitution without a DD channel of its own. Lawyer and Member of Parliament Ram Jethmalani had written to the then Minister of State
for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma making the demand.

Exasperated with no response from the Government, the Sindhi Sangat, a well-networked organisation of the community, is now asking Sindhis across the country to send postcards to the Prime Minister’s Office demanding the channel. They have a common postcard template, which says that as a Sindhi citizen in India without a linguistic state, it is difficult to promote the language, and a channel will help. ‘Youngsters don’t speak Sindhi. We need your help to save our language. Please help us save our culture through TV. Give us a 24-hour DD-Sindhi channel,’ says the postcard.

The Sindhi Sangat has set up a group of volunteers in every city to help Sindhis send these postcards. The target is to send 500,000 postcards. Community members say the move has received tremendous response.  Veena Bhatia, women’s wing president of the Sindhu Sabha, says, “If we had our own state, we would not be talking about saving our language. Other minorities are getting what they demand, so why not Sindhis?”

About The Author

Haima Deshpande