Friends, the Chandigarh Literature Festival hosted a panel discussion on ‘Censorship: Freedom of Expression in Punjabi Literature.’  I hosted the discussion and Prof Surjit Singh, Punjabi Department, Punjabi University and Daljit Ami, documentary film maker, cultural critic, translator, from BBC Punjabi and Jawaharlal Nehru University participated.

My view was that we can not look at censorship in literature in isolation. The fact is that for about a 150 years now the Punjab and especially Sikh society has become censorious. Censorship took an extreme turn in the 1980s during the Khalistan Movement. We defined censorship of four kinds: Sacred (matters of religion), State, Social and Self.

Dear friend Jasdeep Singh was so kind to record it on Facebook Live and relay it from the venue English Department Auditorium, Punjab University, Chandigarh.

Please find the recording here…

Tags: Censorship, Daljit Ami, Punjab, Religious, Sacred, Self, Social, State, Surjit Singh