K Chandrasekhar Rao pledges to protect Telugu

HYDERABAD: Speaking at the closing ceremony of the World Telugu Conference at LB stadium on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said he was very happy with the successful hosting of the five-day conference, but he was also very pained to hear - right here in Telugu land - that the Telugu language has to be saved from becoming extinct. He was referring to Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu’s call to everyone to do their bit to save Telugu, 

Mr Rao said his government would do all that is possible to protect and promote Telugu.

“Our job is not over with this Telugu Mahasabhalu. As a continuation, the government and Telan-gana Sahitya Academy will make earnest efforts in this regard,” Mr Rao said.

Two days ago, the Chief Minister had declared that he would make a big announcement at the closing of the conference that would make language lovers and literary personalities happy.

“After my statement, I received thousands of suggestions from experts and stakeholders. So as not to make it a hurried thing, it was decided to convene a meeting with all stakeholders in January first week to take inputs and then announce government’s steps to promote Telugu language,” Mr Rao said.

The Telugu Mahas-abhalu will be an annual event and be held for two days every December, he added. 

He also reiterated his government’s decision to make Telugu compulsory from class I to class 12 for all schools and colleges in Telangana. 

Mr Rao’s speech on the first day of the conference was filled with poetry, but on the concluding day, he confined himself to just one poem — on happiness, since it was a happy occasion.