AP As Telugu Nadu, As If Existing Issues Are Not Enough!

Spiritual Orator Garikapati Narasimha Rao has sparked a political debate in the state. Recently, the central government made an announcement changing the name of the state of Kerala to Keralam at the request of the Kerala state government. Now this has led to a debate on the name of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Garikapati demanded that the name of Andhra Pradesh be changed to Telugu Nadu. He said that in the past, former Chief Minister NTR also tried to change AP to Telugu Nadu, but it was unsuccessful. But now that the center has changed the name of Kerala to Keralam, the AP government should put pressure on the center to change the name of Andhra Pradesh to Telugu Nadu.

He shattered his opinion that Andhra Pradesh is not a Telugu name, and Telugu Nadu is a perfect fit for AP like Tamil Nadu. He even went on to say, “I do not hesitate to clarify that Andhra Pradesh is not a Telugu word”. This has sparked a debate about the name of the state.

Another prominent spiritual leader, Kamalananda Bharathi, the head of Bhuvaneshwari Peetham, made a statement opposing Garikapati’s opinion. He said that it was strange for Garikapati to be in Telangana and talk about the name Andhra Pradesh, and that he was trying to turn everything into a controversy.

‘Telugu Nadu’ proposal also stirred different opinions in the common people. Some people felt that it appears that we are just mimicking Tamil Nadu and the idea of Telugu Nadu is not good.

YSR Congress Party Supporters say ‘Telugu Nadu’ appears like ‘Telugu Desam’ and it is a ploy by the Ruling Party to make the state name sounds similar to their Party name. There were a few rational opinions as well.

A few people are saying that it makes no sense to name the state as ‘Telugu Nadu’ as there is another Telugu-Speaking State, Telangana which exists separately.

“Telugu Nadu would have made perfect sense if both the Telugu States are united. If only Andhra Pradesh is renamed as ‘Telugu Nadu’, it will appear like we are alienating the other Telugu State,” they say.

“Instead of having the name ‘Telugu Nadu’. It is important to foster the Telugu feeling in the people of both the Telugu States. Calling AP as ‘Telugu Nadu’ will create even differences,” they opinion.

In Andhra Pradesh, there is nothing that goes without becoming controversial. It is a state where all political parties could not arrive at consensus over the State Capital, Changing the State Name will only complicate things as if existing problems are not enough.