The British had changed names of places to destroy Telugu culture, says Venkaiah Naidu

Former Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu being felicitated at the World Telugu Conference at GIET college in Rajamahendravaram on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM

Former Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that the British had changed the names of many places including Rajamahendravaram to destroy the Telugu culture. 

Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, Padma Bhushan awardee Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad and Telugu scholar Garikapati Narasimha Rao inaugurated the two-day Prapancha Telugu Mahasabhalu at Godavari Institute of Engineering and Technology (GIET) deemed to University in Rajamahendravaram on December 8 (Wednesday). 

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said; “In the future, Rajamahendravaram should not be called as Rajahmundry as insisted by the British. We should prioritise our language by calling it Rajamahendravaram. The Irony of the Telugu language and culture is that the Telugus who settled outside the State embrace the culture, while the locals are ignoring it.”

Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said the Telugu language is being spoken in non-Telugu States including Karnataka, Maharastra, Odisha and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where the Telugu population is 13.2%. 

No vote 

Mr. Venkaiah Naidu advocated that people of the Telugu States should not vote for the candidates who don’t speak the Telugu language in elections. “Why did King Raja Raja Narendra encourage the translation of Mahabharat into Telugu by poet Adikavi Nannaya? The Telugus need to understand how the language flourished during the Raja Raja Narendra’s rule,” he said. 

The former Vice-President said that the Telugu language was flourishing with 6.5 lakh words while the total number of words in the English language is barely 2.5 lakh. 

GIET Chairman K.V.V. Satyanarayana Raju presided over the conference.