Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced an annual fete henceforth to celebrate Telugu language in the context of Telangana culture.
Every year during December, a two-day ‘Telangana Telugu Maha Sabhalu’ (Telangana Telugu Conference) would be organised on a grand scale, he announced amid applause during the concluding session of the Fifth World Telugu Conference on Tuesday.
However, Mr. Rao stopped short of making some announcements for the development of Telugu language, as they needed further discussions with eminent personalities. “It was sad that Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is from here, had to say that Telugu needs to be saved from being consigned to the list of dead languages,” Mr. Rao lamented, and added, “I wanted to make some announcements for the development of Telugu as a perennial language, but I received suggestions in hundreds after I announced my intentions”.
Hence, the announcement of measures to protect the language has been postponed to January.
Reminding that the Telangana government made Telugu learning compulsory from class I to Intermediate, Mr. Rao said the issues of language teachers would be resolved soon. He expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the events as part of the conference, and said it spoke of the commitment of the Telangana government towards the language and its development. Congratulating everyone for their contribution, he said small hiccups that had taken place would be rectified.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, who read out his speech entirely in Telugu, congratulated everyone for the success of the conference, and urged parents to gift their children books in Telugu on their birthdays.
He described Mr. Rao as ‘Telugu language Bhageeratha’, and lauded his efforts. Chairperson of Telangana Sahitya Akademi Nandini Sidha Reddy also spoke at the event.
