Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said that the government would develop Telugu culture and preserve its rich heritage. He said separate departments had been created for the purpose.
Mr. Naidu wanted Telugu scholars, poets, writers and historians to join hands with the government in protecting and preserving Telugu language. He said modern poets, writers and lyricists could contribute a great deal by guiding society in the right path through their writings.
Addressing the valedictory session of a seminar on “Telugu History-Culture” at Anam Kala Kendram here, Mr. Naidu reminded people that the Telugu language had a glorious history of 3,000 years and that Satavahana, Vishnukundina, Ikshwaka, Pallava, Kakatiya, Vijayanagara and Golkonda kings had ruled the Telugu land. Every Telugu man should recognise the precious contribution of poets like Pothana, Nannayya, Tikkana and Tyagayya and great rulers such as Brahmanaidu, Rudramma Devi and Srikrishna Devaraya.
He said services of people like Sir Arthur Cotton, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Alluri Seetharamaraju, Gidugu Ramamurthy, Gurajada Apparao, Pingali Venkaiah and former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao could not be ignored, especially on an occasion like Godavari Pushkarams.
Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy said the government was keen on grooming Rajahmundry as the cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh. He said plans were in the offing to revive cultural bodies like Lalitha Kala Academy, Sangeetha Nataka Academy and Telugu language committees. Anand Kuchibhotla had been appointed chairman of Kuchipudi Natyaramam. Telugu scholars, poets, lyric writers Salaka Raghunatha Sarma, N.S. Sriramachandra Murthy, Kolakanuri Inak, P. Chiranjeevini Kumari, Kuchibhotla Anand, Gona Naik, Narayana Rao and film personalities Paruchuri Gopalakrishna, `Sirivennela’ Seetharama Sastry, Anantha Sriram, Thanikella Bharani and MLC Somu Veerraju spoke.
