Andhra Pradesh: Dalit writers urged to fight social evils

Guntur: MLC Dokka Manikyavaraprasada Rao lauded famous poet Jashuva for being the first to revolt against caste discrimination through his writings. Mr Rao lamented that the social evil has spread like cancer in the society and said there was need to eradicate it. He was speaking at a programme organised as part of the 122nd birth anniversary celebrations of the famous poet here on Wednesday.

Dalit Literary Walk was taken out by the poets in the city. Dalit literary festival was organised at Venkateswara Vignana Mandiram in which poets recited their poems. 

Famous writer and chief guest Saranam Kumar Limbal urged Dalit writers and poets to reflect the lives of the various suppressed communities through their writings. He said Dalits still live in separate colonies on the outskirts of the villages in some places and said it is a shame on the society and the country to allow such social evils prevail. Making the Dalits live outside the villages promotes another evil, untouchability, he said.

Famous poet Prof. Yendluri Sudhakar, Sahitya Akademi award winner Papineni Sivasankar stressed on the need to promote Jashuva's thoughts to eradicate social evils.

Writers and poets Mathi Vannan from Tamil Nadu, Sasi Kumar from Mysore, S. Chandramohan from Kerala, Ramesh from Karnataka, Dalit poet Gogu Syamala, P. Ravindra, Mercy Margaret, Y.V. Satyanarayana, G. Elisha, Penugonda Lakshminarayana, retired IAS officer Rosaiah, Prof. R. Chandrasekhar Reddy and singer Pravin Kumar recited their poems. 

Meanwhile, some artistes, from other places, paid tributes to Jashuva by painting his portrait on canvases. The MLC presented Jashuva awards to Mr Sudhakar and Mr Sivasankar.