On Sunday 8th May, Jassa received the 2022 Pride of Pothohar award, alongside The Washing Machine Project founder, Nav Sawhney, and The Times journalist, Manveen Rana.
LTR: Nav Sawhney, Chan Chowdhry, Manveen Rana, Jassa Ahluwalia and Bhupinder Bhasin
Jassa was honoured in recognition of his Both Not Half campaign at The May Fair hotel, following the BM Singh Memorial Lecture 2022, given by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, economist and former Deputy Chair of the Planning Commission of India.
In an emotional acceptance speech (begins at 03:17 in the video below) Jassa remarked, “in articulating Both Not Half I discovered that belonging and identity is not something passive that can be lost, but a process to be actively engaged with. It is a process that the Pothohar Association UK and the UK Asian Film Festival is engaged with and I am deeply honoured to be recognised for my small contribution today.”
The awards ceremony was followed by a screening of Children of Partition: An Oral History of Pothoharis - part of the UK Asian Film Festival.
“This award is all the more special for my own Pothohari origins. My dadi-ji, Manbir Kaur, was born in Lyalpur before she was forced to flee amidst the horrors of Partition. She died in 2020 and my work strives to honour her sacrifices and struggles. I accept this award today in her memory.”
The Pothohar Association UK was established in 1970 to bring together and preserve the culture of people whose origins are in the Pothohar region of West Punjab. More information about the organisation is available on their website.