VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Bhasha Dinotsavam was celebrated grandly across the State on Thursday marking the 161st birth anniversary of Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy, who championed the cause of using colloquial Telugu language as opposed to the scholastic language.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, and others participated in the official celebrations of Telugu Bhasha Dinotsavam and elaborated on the importance of Telugu, which is the mother tongue of 10 crore people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the people of the State on the occasion. Taking to social media platform X, he posted, “Happy Telugu Language Day. It is indeed a very rich language, which has made its mark not only in India but all over the world. I appreciate all those who are working to make Telugu more popular.”
Addressing the gathering at Tummalapalli Kshetrayya Kalakshetram, Naidu said language is the identity of a group of people and their culture. “We as Telugu-speaking people should take pride in our language and culture. Ours is the fourth largest language spoken in India, after Hindi, Bengali, and Marathi. In the United States, it is the 11th largest spoken language,” he said.
Pawan Kalyan said speaking English is not wrong but ignoring one’s mother tongue is definitely wrong. “Unfortunately, most people are doing it, and speaking and pursuing education in one’s mother tongue has become a crime. When one speaks proper Telugu, it is seen as an entertainment, which is unfortunate. People may not know that Gidugu Ramamurthy Pantulu was an English teacher and historian. But, he strove to conserve Telugu and promoted colloquial Telugu,” he said.
Pawan Kalyan emphasised the need for more encouragement to Telugu language pandits. He said Maharashtrians and Tamilians love for their language is well known and they strive to ensure no English word is used in their language. “We too should take pride in our language and strive for our language development,” he said.
Minister for Tourism Kandula Durgesh and others also spoke. Seventeen people who excelled in their fields were felicitated on the occasion.