Hyderabad :

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wants to completely change the cultural image of Telangana. Stating that the culture was Telangana was always kept low under the rule of Seemandhra leaders, KCR said he now wants to establish a new cultural era for Telangana and show the world that Telangana culture is in no way inferior when compared to other cultures.

Post bifurcation, the KCR-led new government is leaving no stone unturned in extending its vision to rebuild the cultural image of the state. Keeping in view the vision, the chief minister announced a `1lakh award in the name of Telangana literary icon Dasarathi Karishnamachary on his 89th birth anniversary at Ravindra Bharathi on Tuesday. The award will encourage yound writers in the state, he said.

The award is the first one to be constituted by the new government in honour of a personality from the state. The award will annually recognise outstanding contributions in the field of Telugu literature. As a tribute to Dasarathi, who is known for his rebellious writings against the Nizams, the government will install his statue at Tankbund, KCR announced. “People create controversies when I speak about statutes but the reality is our children do not even know whose statutes exist at Tankbund,” the chief minister said.

After learning about the financial struggle of the icon’s family, the chief minister promised a government job for his son Dasarathi Laxman. “Dasarathi deserved greater honours and so does his family. From today, his family will not have to suffer. An appointment order will be ready in the next two-three days,” KCR said. Recalling his experience with Dasarathi’s writings, the chief minister said he was inspired by them as a students. “In fact, his writings inspired me during the Telangana movement,” he added.

“Today, to honour our legendary poet and writer is the victory of all the people of the state,” he said and added that the state government will organise the birth anniversary celebrations of eminent Telangana icons who have helped in the development of the state. “It is very disappointing that very few government institutions have been named after leaers from Telangana. Very soon a prestigious institution or university will be named after Dasarathi,” the chief minister said.

Listening to the discussion by guests like vice-chancellor of Telugu university Elluri Shiva Reddy and poet Rallabandi Kavita Prasad, KCR, who is a poet himself, rued the fact that he was not able to attend poetry meets due to his bust schedule. “Right now, I do not want to leave this place but I do not have a choice,” he said in a typically Telangana accent.

The chief minister felt that the state need more auditoriums like Ravindra Bharathi and promised to revamp the auditorium which has been hosting many cultural programmes for a long time.

Noticing the poor facilities at the auditorium, KCR promised to increase its annual grant from `30 lakh to `1 crore and assured that the state government would transform the auditorium into a world-class one. Taking a dig at previous regimes for the poor facilities in the auditorium, he said “Previous governments kept boasting that their Telugu was superior to our Telugu but left a place like Ravindra Bharathi in shambles,” and added the cultural revamp of the state included improving facilities at the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University.

KCR was the chief guest at a function to celebrate the 89th birth anniversary of Dasarathi Krishnamachary organised by the department of language and culture.

An Ode to Telangana

Dasarathi Krishnamacharya was a writer and poet from Telangana in the Nizam era. He is popularly known as Dasarathi. He was born on July 22, 1927, in Chinnaguduru village of Warangal district. Dasarathi is considered as one of the first to fight for Telangana. He became the icon of Telangana movement by his popular line ‘Na Telangana Koti Ratanala Veena’ in which he described Telangana with ‘veena’ decked with innumerable diamonds. He wrote these lines in the jail at Nizamabad when he was arrested for raising his voice against the Nizam rulers. These lines became very popular during the Telangana movement. He received Sahitya Akademi award for his literary work ‘Thimiramto Samaram’ (Fight against the Darkness) in 1974. He also wrote songs for Telugu movies like ‘Vandanam’ and ‘Iddaru Mitrulu’. He passed away in 1987.

Cultural Touch

Award to be given every year for best constribution in Telugu literature

Dasarathi’s statue to be installed at Tankbund

Birth anniv to be celebrated every year

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / July 23rd, 2014