Telangana State will celebrate its language day known as ‘Telangana Bhasha Dinosthavam’ on September 9 every year to coincide with the birth anniversary of noted Telangana poet Kaloji Narayana Rao.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who held discussions on the same, has decided to declare it as a State function. Kaloji Memorial Award will be instituted in the poet’s honour and would be given away to those who have contributed significantly to Telangana language and literature.
This year, an official function will be held at Ravindra Bharathi on September 9 with ministers in attendance. However, the Chief Minister will give the first Language Day celebrations a miss as he will be in China for World Economic Forum meet between September 7 and 16.
It would be pertinent to note that Telangana government has given up celebrating the Telugu Language Day on August 29 to mark the birth anniversary of Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy, who championed the cause of using comprehensible language in literary texts.
Meanwhile, Kaloji Narayana Rao a prolific writer and poet in Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu is credited for his activist writing and vocal support for the cause of Telangana. A Padma Vibhushan recipient, he is also highly respected as a political activist who staunchly opposed the feudal attitude of Nizams.
All the district administrations have been instructed to organise celebrations on a grand scale. The education department has been ordered to conduct debate, essay writing, poetry competitions in schools to celebrate the day.
Source: The New Indian Express