Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Saturday announced the setting up of a state culture commission to highlight the state's rich culture and also to curb the growing tendency of vulgar songs.
Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu announced the setting up the Punjab Sabhyacharak (Culture) Commission here.
Punjab Sahitya Akademi chairman and famous writer Surjit Pattar will finalise the members of the commission, which will be headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh while Sidhu will be its Vice Chairman.
Pattar said that the commission has been set up to save the history and culture of Punjab.Though it will highlight the history and culture of Punjab, its focus will also be to check vulgarity in Punjabi songs.
In recent years, there has been a growing trend in Punjabi songs that glorified crime and criminals, gun culture, violence, abusive language and sexuality.
The commission will be empowered to recommend registration of a police complaint in case it finds vulgar content in songs.
Sidhu told media here on Saturday that the commission would give its first report within a fortnight.
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New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
