Punjab Official Language Act makes Punjabi the state's language

Who: The ministry of Lachhman Singh Gill, a Sant Akali Dal member who broke from the United Front and became Chief Minister with Congress support on 25 November 1967; the Punjab Legislature; and the Jana Sangh, which, Gurmit Singh writes, was not agreeable to the declaration of Punjabi as the state language.

What: The Punjab Official Language Act, 1967 (Punjab Act 5 of 1967) made Punjabi in Gurmukhi script the official language of the State. Section 3 says the official language of the State “shall be Punjabi”. Sections 4 and 5 let the State Government fix the dates from which Punjabi is used for particular official purposes, among them Bills, Acts and Governor's Ordinances. English could go on being used in the Legislature until the Government directed otherwise, anyone could submit a grievance to an officer in any language used in the State, Hindi included, and the Government was to take steps to develop Hindi in the State. The Act repealed the Punjab Official Languages Act, 1960.

Gill took office after the United Front fell on 22 November 1967. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records that the Assembly passed the language bill on 19 December and the Governor gave assent on 29 December, and that Punjabi was to apply up to district level by 14 January 1968 and up to the secretariat level by 13 April. Gurmit Singh says the Act came into operation on 28 December and put Punjabi in use at secretariat and district levels; Khushwant Singh says it made Punjabi the only language of administration at the district level. The Act's text records the Governor's assent on 29 December.

Gurmit Singh and Khushwant Singh both say Gill used the Act to win esteem among Sikhs. Khushwant Singh adds that Gill boasted of doing for Punjabi what even Maharaja Ranjit Singh had not done.

The language question stayed open. Gill's ministry fell on 23 August 1968, and the two Akali Dals reunited in October. In 1970, in Parkash Singh Badal's coalition, the Jana Sangh insisted that Hindi be declared the second official language. The Akalis refused to give up the unilingual character of the state, and the Jana Sangh ministers resigned on 30 June 1970, according to Gurmit Singh. Grewal gives 20 June.

Where: Punjab, the whole state, to which the Act extended.

Why it mattered: A year after the Punjabi-speaking state was formed, the Act put Punjabi in law as its language of administration. It came under a ministry that had taken office with Congress support, not under the Akali-led United Front, which had divided over the language. Gurmit Singh writes that the Jana Sangh and the Akalis could not agree on it, and the Jana Sangh's later demand for Hindi as a second official language showed the question was not closed.