Stage set for grand world Telugu meet in Telangana

The Telangana government proposes to organise the first-of-its-kind Telangana World Telugu Conference coinciding with the State Formation Day celebrations in Hyderabad, steered by the newly-formed Telangana Sahitya Academy.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao says it shall be so organised that Telugu-speaking people all over the world will remember this event forever as a landmark in the annals of history of Telugu language, literature and culture.

Telugu linguists, literates, scholars, poets, verse writers and language lovers from other States and abroad will be invited to the conference. Literary discussions, symposia, workshops, poetic gatherings (Kavi Sammelanam), traditional Ashthavadhanas, as well as publication of valuable, yet hitherto unpublished invaluable literary works of famous writers of Telangana, will form part of the world Telugu meet.

Formal declaration of the intention and the schedule as well as launch will happen on June 2 – the State Formation Day. In all probability, the event that is likely to commence sometime during the third week of June 2017 will be of a week to ten days duration.

The conference will extensively deliberate on great contributions made by writers, poets and literary luminaries from ancient times through the medieval period to modern days for Telugu language and literature.

It will showcase great contributions by Telangana writers and the role played by Telangana literary figures in traditional literature, Avadhanams as well as modern literature. Contributions to the field of films, journalism, novel and short story, Harikatha, Burrakatha, Yaksha Gana and poetry will also be duly recognised. Delegates from the US, Europe, the Gulf, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia would be invited to the conference and become partners in the literary excellence.

The first ever World Telugu Conference during the reign of united Andhra Pradesh was held in Hyderabad in 1975, when Jalagam Vengala Rao was the Chief Minister, beginning from that year’s Ugadi day, April 12 for 7 days.

A host of meetings, discussions, poets’ gathering, workshops and performances took place. Vengala Rao led a rally of thousands of people from Charminar to the LB Stadium on the inaugural day walking all the way for four to five hours.

Maha Kavi Sri Sri led a protest march and organised a parallel Telugu Mahasabha and was arrested along with others but later was released. The literary duel between Kavisamraat Viswanatha Satyanarayana and Sri Sri then reached its crescendo during the conference.

A letter opposing the conference purportedly written by Viswanatha was sent to newspapers and Viswanatha alleged that Sri Sri had forged his signature. Sri Sri had to spend one night in Bolarum police station.

The second World Telugu Conference was held in Kaulalampur in Malaysia from April 14 to 18, 1981, when T Anjaiah was the Chief Minister. The AP government, World Telugu Federation and Malaysian Telugu Association organised the event.

The Chief Minister attended the conference and the then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathi Bin Mohammed was the chief guest.

The third conference was held for three days from December 10 to 13, 1990 at Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mecca area in Mauritius in which its Governor Veerasami Ringuda and Prime Minister Anirudh Jagannadh were the chief guests.

The fourth conference was held at the temple town of Tirupati from December 27 to 29, 2012, when N Kiran Kumar Reddy was the Chief Minister. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the conference and Governor ESL Narasimhan also participated.

If the proposed first World Telugu Conference in Telangana State is to be successful it should be organised on a higher note than the previous conferences. There is a marked difference between the aims and objectives of the World Telugu Conferences held under the united AP and now in Telangana State.

A new thought and planning is necessary to coordinate with cultural organisations, institutions and people from AP and other States and abroad, and the media etc., to make the event a grand success.

It is better if district-level committee meetings take place well in advance before organising them at the regional and State levels. Books, monographs and articles should be brought out on the Telangana contribution to the Telugu language and literature.

The conference should be organised in such a way that it will be remembered for days and years to come and remain a fond memory for participants.

By: Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao