Telugu is inseparably linked with Sanskrit: AP Education Minister on row over renaming Telugu Akademi

Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh said that the objective behind renaming the Telugu Akademi as Telugu and Sanskrit Akademi is to ensure proper training and research for the development of Telugu language as well as Sanskrit, which is the source of all languages.

Addressing mediapersons at R & B office on Wednesday, Suresh said that the decision was taken after discussions in the Cabinet to develop and further expand the Telugu language. In this regard, GO No 31 was issued by the government to set up an Akademi by adding Sanskrit for research in Telugu, which originated from the Dravidian language. “How can the leaders in Opposition parties oppose the change in name. It is they who ruined the Telugu Akademi during their tenure,” he questioned.

The minister also pointed out that even after the State’s bifurcation, no discussions were held with Telangana about the Akademi properties and salaries to the employees during their tenure. Besides that the previous TDP government entrusted the task of printing the Akademi textbooks to private persons and failed to provide textbooks to the students on time, he said.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is committed to bring back the glory of the Akademi and suggested a judicial fight for getting the properties of the Akademi from Telangana. As part of it, after examining the petition filed by the government the High Court pronounced it’s verdict directing to share the Akademi properties in 52:48 ratio with Telangana. After the verdict, the Telangana government approached the Supreme Court and it had also pronounced the same verdict. Thus, about Rs 200 crore of fixed assets were obtained for the State. 

The Akademi authorities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have already worked on the same and came to a decision on the distribution of Akademi assets. Suresh also recalled that the Telugu Akademi was founded in 1968 and TDP founder Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao took few initiatives for the development of the Akademi. However, during former TDP government’s regime, the Akademi lost its sheen, he said.

Instead of making baseless allegations against the government, the Opposition parties should commend the efforts of the government for promoting Sanskrit, which is the source of all the languages, the minister said, adding that the government is introducing English medium of education in schools, besides preserving the prominence of Telugu language.

Telugu Akademi chairperson N Lakshmi Parvathi ridiculed the Opposition for making a hue and cry over renaming the Akademi. She pointed out Hindi, Farsi, Sanskrit are interlinked with Telugu language. “If we examine the inscriptions written in the  past it is clear that Telugu language is inseparably linked with Sanskrit since inception,” she said.

How many books were printed in Telugu without using Sanskrit language, she asked. Parvathi thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for allocating a four-storey building for Telugu and Sanskrit Akademi.