The Telangana Writers' Association (Singidi) urged Justice Srikrishna Committee to give a favourable report on separate Telangana “to undo the discrimination, suppression and marginalisation of Telangana language, literature and culture” by people from other regions. Association representatives, who interacted with the committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna, explained how Telangana literature or writers from the region did not find a mention in the text books published by the government.
They also alleged that the region has not got its due share of exposure in the cultural and literary fields, while pioneers of Telangana region including poets and writers have been discriminated by Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders. The language used in the textbooks was devoid of the Telangana flavour and students from the region were put to hardship in learning a form of Telugu which was ‘alien' to them. On the cultural front, Telangana dialect had been made a language of villains and jokers in films and the people of the region were forced to face derogatory remarks about their language by ‘pundits from seemaandhra'.
Association convenor S. Narayana Reddy and others told reporters later that the committee was told how Telugu secured classical language status on the basis of excavations in Kotilingala in Karimnagar district and how people from other regions were taking credit for it.
Neglect
When the neglect of Urdu was brought to the notice of the panel, the committee members reportedly asked why the representations from the Muslim community were relatively low. They claimed that a majority of Muslims in Telangana were in favour of a separate State.
