Taking strong exception to delay in implementation of the resolutions passed in the World Telugu Conference held recently at Tirupati, the Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya has threatened to adopt a confrontationist approach.
The Vijayawada-based Samakhya State president S. Ramesh Babu said any further delay may force Telugu lovers to go ahead with their plan to launch a stir, coinciding with International Mother Tongue Day on February 21.
Dubbing what he called ‘dilatory tactics’ of the government, Mr. Ramesh Babu said that the Samakhya had actually put forth nine demands before the government, of which only three were conceded through resolutions.
Referring to the resolutions adopted at the world meet such as a separate Ministry for Telugu Language and Culture, he said the existing Department of Culture and said mere addition of the prefix ‘Telugu’ to it would not serve any purpose.
Need of the hour was to create a separate department in the Secretariat for overall development of Telugu and it should be brought under a Cabinet Minister on the lines of other departments, he opined.
Pointing to yet another resolution calling for reinstatement of the Telugu Sahitya Akademi, the Sangeeta Akademy and the Lalita Kala Academy, he said a decision to this effect had been taken during the term of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy but it was not implemented.
Pointing to the declaration that insists on making Telugu language compulsory in all schools from Class 1, Mr. Ramesh Babu reminded of GO no. 86 issued in 2003 by the then Telugu Desam Government.
Key issue
He said the key issue of compulsory implementation of Telugu from intermediate up to post-graduate level in professional courses like medicine and engineering was being ignored.
“The very purpose of forming separate Andhra Pradesh State was to promote and develop Telugu language, which is being completely overlooked,” he rued.
Referring to claims of implementing Telugu language in administration, Mr. Ramesh Babu said of the total 4,564 G.Os issued in 2011-12, only three were in Telugu.
“The Chief Minister should set an example by implementing Telugu as official language in his office first before asking the public to do the same,” he said.
