KCR demands Bharat Ratna for eminent poet Annabhau Sathe
Telangana CM and BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao addressing a meeting to celebrate birth anniversary of Marathi poet and social reformer Annabhau Sathe at Wategaon in Sangli district of Maharashtra on Tuesday
Hyderabad: Focussing his attention in strengthening the BRS party beyond Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has intensified his efforts to have a strong rank and file in Maharashtra.
As part of this attempt KCR has been often visiting Maharashtra and during every visit he has been admitting some local leaders into the pink party.
Addressing the 103-birth anniversary of the eminent Maharashtra poet and writer Annabhau Sathe at Wategaon in Maharashtra, KCR urged the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Sathe.
The chief minister said that the successive governments at the Centre had failed to honour the noted Matang Dalit poet.
He demanded the Centre to recognise the services of Annabhau whose writings, literature and his struggle for the downtrodden were commendable.
KCR said Sathe had worked hard for the establishment of an egalitarian society. Sathe’s poetry has got special recognition as ‘Lok Shayari’ among others, he said.
He said Russia had recognized Annabhau’s literature and the then Premier of that country invited him and honoured the noted poet. His statue was also installed in a Russian library. It was unfortunate that the successive governments in India did not recognise the popular writers and also did not take initiatives to introduce his literature to the world.
KCR further said Maharashtra and the Union Government should recognise Annabhau’s sacrifices and literary works and translate them in all Indian languages. They are said to be descendants of Matang Mahamuni.
Explaining the history and genealogy of the Matang clan of the legendary era, KCR said Mahakavi Kalidasa glorified the greatness of the Matang society. Kalidasa had said that Matang, the origin of musical literature, is described as Jnana Saraswati, he recalled.
KCR expressed his concern that the Maharashtra government was not giving adequate support and recognition to the Matang community and they were not being provided opportunities in the legislative assembly as MLAs. The CM made it clear that the BRS party will fully support the Matang community and provide all kinds of recognition and assistance at appropriate time.