Rajamahendravaram: Well-known literary figure and Nandi Award recipient Dr Aripirala Narayana Rao expressed concern that other languages still dominate Telugu language. He lamented that just as Sanskrit once encroached upon Telugu, English is now playing that role.

Dr Aripirala participated as the chief guest at Telugu Language Day celebrations at CP Brown Mandiram on Friday, commemorating 162nd birth anniversary of the spoken language movement pioneer, Gidugu Ramamurthy Pantulu.

Speaking at the event, which was presided over by Sannidhanam Sastri, the administrator of the Brown Mandiram, Dr Aripirala said that Telugu is still alive because of the language movement led by Gidugu. He noted that the dominance of English can be seen even among common, illiterate people. He also expressed distress that people are even sending Telugu messages using English characters on their cell phones.

He praised Gidugu Ramamurthy as the principal figure of the Telugu language movement, while Gurajada was the one who followed in his footsteps. Rao analysed that Gidugu Ramamurthy’s literary movement was the inspiration behind Gurajada’s play Kanyasulkam. He revealed that Chellapilla Venkata Sastri, a classicist who initially opposed Gidugu’s movement, later changed his stance at a public meeting in Kovvuru and became an advocate for the spoken language movement, which led to his work Kavulu-Gadhalu.

He stated that Gidugu strongly opposed the infiltration of foreign languages like Persian, Urdu, Sanskrit, and English into the Telugu language. He added that those who work to promote pure Telugu are not getting proper recognition. The event’s president, Sannidhanam Sastri, said that the CP Brown Mandiram is being run with the goal of remembering Telugu linguists. Several people offered floral tributes to the oil portrait of Gidugu Ramamurthy Pantulu.

Advocate KL Bhavani, Arohdhruthi founder and president Kosuri Chandipriya, dance teacher Sappa Durgaprasad, civil contractor Ganugula Suryabhaskara Rao, Sukkireddy Srinivasarao, and DS Sivanand, among others, participated in the event.