Telangana is Center of Telugu Language

Adilabad, Feb. 9: State Official Language Committee chairman A.B.K. Prasad said on Thursday that the campaign to get classical language status for Telugu was not against the movement for a separate Telangana State.

“It was meant to save the Telugu language which was facing immense threat from English,” he said. Talking to this correspondent, he said that the committee had begun the campaign with a good intention but it was being portrayed wrongly by some political parties for their gains.

Telangana was the mukhadwaram (front door) to the Telugu language, he said, and explained that the ‘anam’ in ‘Telanganam’ meant centre. This proved that Telangana region was the centre of the Telugu language. There was historical evidence to prove this, he added. Mr Prasad said that an ancient Telugu coin was unearthed in Koti Lingala in Karimnagar district and the famous Tamil poet Pampa, one among the Tamil Kavitrayam, belonged to the Telangana region.

Criticising the previous Telugu Desam government and its leaders for neglecting Telugu, he said that the language had been languishing for 10 years. “The former chief minister (N. Chandrababu Naidu) had also rejected the proposal made by the University of Hyderabad to develop Telugu software and had preferred English instead,” the chairman said.

Mr Prasad said the State government had assured that Sanskrit would not be allowed as second language in junior colleges from next year, in order to protect Telugu. Sanskrit was promoted during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party, though it was a dead language, he added.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle
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