The State government’s move of changing the name of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences into Dr. YSR University of Health Sciences has evoked strong reactions from the Opposition parties, organisations and other quarters.
But mum’s the word for his wife, Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi, who has maintained a strategic silence on the issue. The government’s decision has riled up the family members of the former Chief Minister the late N.T. Rama Rao. But Ms. Parvathi, who is the Chairperson of the Telugu Academy in the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, has not responded so far to the controversy. When asked for her comment, she said she would need some time to speak about the issue.
TDP leader, Hindupur MLA and NTR’s son Nandamuri Balakrishna gave vent to his anger through a tweet saying, “NTR is not just a name to be removed or changed; NTR is a culture, a civilisation, the backbone of the Telugu race”. He said while the father (Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy) changed the name of the Shamshabad airport after he came to power, “the son is now changing the name of the university,” and left a word of caution: “Beware! People will change you.”
Purandeswari reacts
NTR’s daughter and BJP senior leader Daggubati Purandeswari slammed the Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government saying that instead of working for people’s welfare, it was focused on changing the names of places.
Recalling that the university was established as the University of Health Sciences and inaugurated by her father who was the then Chief Minister and it started functioning on November 1 in 1986 with N.T. Rama Rao as its first Chancellor, she pointed out that it was only after his death, the institution was renamed as Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences.
Chairman of the State Official Language Commission Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad resigned from his post in protest after the Jagan Mohan Reddy government passed a Bill in the Assembly changing the name of the university.
Former Speaker and TDP State vice-president Pratibha Bharathi has condemned the decision calling it a “humiliation to the leader of the masses who fought relentlessly to protect the dignity and self-respect of the Telugu people all his life.” She demanded that the government withdraw the move and retain the old name.
