Vijayawada: Jagan destroying Telugu language, alleges Tulasi Reddy

Vijayawada: British officer Charles Philip Brown learnt Telugu and rejuvenated the language while Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has become a destroyer of Telugu, Dr Tulasi Reddy, APCC vice-president lamented here on Thursday.

Paying tributes to the great lover of Telugu language CP Brown at Andhra Ratna Bhavan, Tulasi Reddy recalled that East India Company officer Brown bought a house at Kadapa and strived hard for the development of Telugu language.

"Brown learnt Telugu language thoroughly and even published a Telugu dictionary," he said and recalled that he collected the poems of the great poet Vemana and compiled them. Brown worked as Telugu professor after returning to London. Tulasi Reddy said that the house of Brown in Kadapa was converted into Brown Library with the initiative by the late Janumaddi Hanumad Sastry.

All the states in the country including the Union Territories have been developing their mother tongues by introducing in primary schools. However, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has chosen to issue GO No 85 banishing Telugu medium in all the government schools in the State which was a historical blunder.

He said that Article 370A of the Constitutions clearly says that the primary education should be in the mother tongue which means what Jagan Mohan Reddy has done was unconstitutional.

Tulasi Reddy also stated that United Nations Organisation (UNO) announced 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages which means Jagan Mohan Reddy has violated the UNO resolution.

He recalled that Mahatma Gandhiji insisted that the primary education should be in mother tongue which was later corroborated by Ravindranath Tagore, BR Ambedkar, Abdul Kalm and others. The thoughtless decision by the State government would result in increase in school dropouts and even suicide among the students, he said.

Taking inspiration from CP Brown, the Chief minister should immediately withdraw the GO No 85, he appealed and demanded implementation of Telugu compulsory in all the schools.