Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

‘Chaitanya yatra’ to promote Telugu culture, language

VIJAYAWADA: A ‘Chaitanya Yatra’ (awareness rally) aimed at upholding and preserving Telugu language and culture will be taken out from Machilipatnam to Nellore from August 2 to 5 as part of the birth centenary celebrations of freedom fighter Bezawada Gopala Reddy.

Writers, poets and litterateurs will move in buses and cars as part of this yatra. They will get down from the vehicles on the outskirts of towns and villages and walk from there to address meetings explaining the greatness of Telugu language, literature and culture. Karnataka former Governor V.S. Ramadevi, Chief Justice of Guwahati High Court Jasti Chalameswar, MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, industrialist Gokaraju Gangaraju, Jnanpeeth awardee C. Narayana Reddy, Union Minister Daggubati Purandeswari and others are scheduled to participate in different meetings to be held on the four days of the yatra.

Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad, convener of the centenary celebrations committee, told reporters here on Saturday that the awareness rally was made to coincide with the birth centenary of a great leader and visionary, whose contribution to Telugu language and culture was unforgettable. He said Dr. Gopala Reddy had brought respect to Telugus in his capacity as chief minister of the erstwhile Andhra State, governor of Uttar Pradesh and chairman of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademy.

Dr. Lakshmi Prasad said the time had come for every Telugu-speaking person to do everything possible to revive interest in their language, as there was a great danger in waiting. Referring to an observation made by the UNESCO through a study, he said the very existence of the Telugu language would be in question after 22 years, if the present state of affairs continued without any change.

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