Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao once again proved that he had ears to the ground and his approach was down to earth.
In the two-day judicial conference that began today in Hyderabad, the chief guest remarks of KCR drew thunderous applause from the audience, who mostly constituted Justices from Supreme Court, Hyderabad High Court, judicial officers from the two Telugu states and advocates. While Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu spoke in English and dealt with contemporary global trends in the Indian context, KCR chose to address the gathering in Telugu. When KCR said as his counterpart chose to speak in English, he would like to speak in Telugu the conference hall of a five star hotel reverberated with claps from the audience. Naidu talked of technology and his proposal to build a most modern High Court at Amaravati, while KCR spoke about the concerns of the common man in his day to day dealings with the court.
Though the legal luminaries such as judges from Supreme Court might not have followed well his Telugu speech, but it had gone down well the with audience. His speech struck an instant chord with conference. The T-CM, who is adept at using Telugu idiom, thoroughly impressed the audience. He appreciated the steps being taken up by the acting chief justice of Hyderabad High Court in reducing the number of cases pending before the courts.” Though there is a lot to be done, I am told the chief justice has been successful in his efforts,” KCR said. He said Courts should strive to give an impression to the litigants as if they were entering the temple of justice. Supreme Court judge from Andhra Pradesh Justice Ramana was also all praise for KCR for speaking in Telugu. He advised the Telugu CMs to promote their mother tongue.
There is a lot perceptional difference between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which became evident in the current budget session also. One hears frequent English speeches in Andhra Pradesh Assembly, the medium of communication in Telangana Assembly is Telugu. Recently, while Andhra finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu delivered his budget speech in English, his Telangana counterpart Etala Rajender, a veteran of students’ movement from Osmania University, spoke in chaste Telugu. Rajender won kudos from both states and social media was abuzz on this . Even opposition parties also congratulated him. Noted litterateur and Pamabhushan winner Dr Yarlagadda Laksmi Prasad also praised Rajender for choosing Telugu to present his budget speech.
The problem arises out of one’s obsession with everything foreign. In the past two years, AP chief minister spent more time learning ‘greatness’ of Singapore, China, Japan, Malaysia, UK etc. The perceived audience of Naidu speech is English speaking elite, definitely not the ordinary masses, while KCR’s target was his own state and his own people. Both chief ministers were the products of vibrant regionalism in India, Telugu and Telangana. But they seem to be charting different courses, one is international while the other is regional.
