Former MP and chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Hindi Academy Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad on Tuesday said that Telugu people were not known to love their mother tongue.
“They would rather take pride in flaunting whatever little English they know than embrace the enriched language that has a glorious history,” he said, speaking at a seminar on ‘Bharatiya Sahitya me Yuve Varg ki Aadhunik Vichaardhara’ (Indian Literature a source of modern thinking for youth), organised by the Department of Oriental Languages (Hindi, Sanskrit and Telugu) of Andhra Loyola College to mark International Mother Language Day.
Dr. Lakshmi Prasad said it was perhaps because Telugu people suffered from low self-esteem.
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‘Skewed priorities’
“We need to change the direction we are moving in and set right our skewed priorities as far as our language is concerned,” he cautioned, reiterating: “We are no less than anyone. India is a great nation. We should be proud of our lineage and language. We are allowing foreign culture to rule our minds, our homes and our spaces around, and the result is that respect for mother language is diminishing by the day,” he said.
He said the media was partly to be blamed for the “existing sorry state of affairs.”
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“When ISRO launched 104 satellites in one go, creating history, instead of capturing the perspective of the scientists who made the achievement possible, all news channels were repeatedly airing Sasikala and her political feats.”
“Set your priorities right and start respecting your mother tongue,” he insisted.
Speaking about his association with Loyola College, he said there were two things — “Whenever I visit the Gandhi statue at the Martin Luther Kind Jr. National Historic site in Atlanta, I go there as a pilgrim and whenever I come to Loyola College, it is as a teacher.”
T. Mohan Singh, adhyaksh, Hindi Academy, spoke at length about ‘kranthi’ (revolutions).
He said revolutions brought about changes across the world.
“Indian freedom struggle was the struggle of youth because all those actively involved in it, Mohanlal Karamchand Ganhi, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, and others of the ilk were all very young,” he said, adding: “They fought selflessly and relentlessly for freedom of the country.”
He also spoke about famous modern Hindi writers and poets like Mythili Sharan Gupt and Munshi Premchand, and their immense contribution to society. Head of Department of Hindi in Central University of Tamil Nadu at Thiruarur S.V.S.S. Narayana Raju, HoD, Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Hyderabad, Manjunath N. Ambigh, and secretary C.S. Hosagavdar spoke. ALC principal Peter Kishore, vice-chairpersons S. Melchior and G. Sambasiva Rao, HoD of Sanskrit and Hindi M. Sivaram, and G. Dhanalakshmi of Department of Hindi were present.