Moturi Satyanarayana (2 February 1902 – 6 March 1995) was an
Indian freedom fighter alongside Mohandas Gandhi until 1947 and then a member
of the Constituent Assembly of India which drafted the Indian Constitution. He
was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House in the Indian
government) until 1966. He was instrumental in making Hindi an official
language in the Indian Constitution, while tolerating the other major Indian
languages. He devoted his later life to helping spread Hindi in South India.
Moturi was born in Dondapadu village in the Krishna district
of Andhra Pradesh, India. After his primary education, he studied English,
Telugu, and Hindi at the National College in Machilipatnam, achieving a high proficiency
in them. He joined the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha as a volunteer and
gradually became the Secretary and Principal Secretary of that organisation. A
major mission in his life would be to efficiently promote the growth of Hindi
in South India between 1936 and 1961. He married Shrimati Suryakanta Devi and
had three sons and four daughters with her.
Moturi participated in Quit India Movement in 1942 and was
jailed. During this time, Moturi was an active promoter of the Hindi language.
He was the Editor of "Hindi Pracharak" (1926–36), "Hindi Prachar
Samachar" (1938–61) and Dakshina Bharat (1947–61). He organised many
Institutions all over India such as "Dakshina Bharata Hindi Prachara Sabha"
of Madras (1926–61). He was the Founding Secretary of "Telugu Basha
Samithi" of Madras and Hyderabad.
After India became independent from Britain, Moturi was a
member of the Constituent Assembly of India from 1948–50. He served as a Member
of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution for its Language Section.
He was a key figure in the divisive debates on: what to make the official
language of India (Hindi, English, or a number of local languages such as
Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, etc.); how to set up a pluralistic civil service
examination system; and how to balance local languages with national languages
at different levels of government. He advocated for drafting of the
Constitution in Indian languages first.
After Indian Independence, from 1950–52, Moturi was a member
of the Provisional Parliament of India as an MP. After the Indian Constitution
was drafted, Moturi was nominated by the President of India as a Rajya Sabha
(Upper House) member. He served twice between 1954 and 1966 (3 April 1954 to 2
April 1960 and 3 April 1960 to 2 April 1966). He was also a member of: the
Madras Legislative Council (1952–54); the Central Advisory Board of Education
of the Govt. of India; the Madras University Senate (1952–53); the Central
Official Languages Commission (1954–56).
Moturi had many scholarly interests. He was the Chief Editor
of Encyclopedia on Social Sciences in Hindi published by the Hindi Vikas
Samithi, Madras. He was the founding secretary of the Telugu Bhasha Samiti. He
also founded the Hindi Vikas Samiti and published 'Vishwa Vignana Samhita.'
Finally, Moturi was an editor for a comprehensive encyclopedia published in his
native language of Telugu.
Later in his life, Moturi won many awards. He was a
recipient of the Padma Shri award in 1954 and the Padma Bhushan award in 1962,
both from the Government of India. Andhra University honoured him with its Kala
Prapoorna award in 1977.
Moturi lived to the age of 93. When a family member asked
the nonagenarian Moturi about the secret of his longevity, his brief response
was: "Listen more, eat less."
As an activist for Indian Independence, a framer of the
Indian Constitution, and a Parliamentarian, Moturi was a key figure in India's
political history. However, some people crit
icise his decision to support Hindi, and not English, as the official
language of India. The awkward provisions in the Indian Constitution and a
later push by pro-Hindi hardliners led to "language riots" in the
1960s in southern states such as Tamil Nadu, where more than 60 people died.
Several students immolated themselves protesting the forced use of Hindi as the
national language. While English has become the de facto national language of
India by 2010, the Indian Constitution has continued to serve as the
fundamental basis of the India's polity and society and its drafting was a
major accomplishment.
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