This is a short review of the Telugu journal, Godavari Keratalu (Waves of Godavari)
Editor: K. Satyanarayana Murthy, published from: Kakinada (Apart town in coastal Andhra). Address: Godavari Keratalu No. 64-1E-1, Treasury Employees Colony, Kakinada – 533 004, subscription Rs.25 yearly.
The Godavari Keratalu mirrors the problems of different nations (Dalits, SC/ST/BC minorities and women).
Historical background: The very title reveals the love of the natives to the river Godavari which has centuries-long history of struggles of the SC/ST/BCs who depended on it for their survival. Revolutionaries and poets wrote several songs on the Godavari. Everyone in Andhra Pradesh is hypnotized when listening to the melodious songs on the Godavari.
I too have a special love for the Godavari as I spent some of my early days beside the Godavari which is more beautiful than the river Krishna.
The present “Naxal movement” is also spread on the banks of the Godavari right from its origin in Maharashtra to Bay of Bengal where it joins the sea at Kakinada. The very title catches the hearts of Andhra’s. It can be said that the Godavari is the symbol of our struggles.
Kakinada, the East Godavari dt. Hers., from where this journal is published, is one more political centre next only to Vijayawada.
Fathers of Dalit movement: Malappuram taluk where the Dalit population is very high is also in the same district. It is the stronghold of RPI and elected a Dalit MP. The Dalits of the district were the fathers of the Dalit movement in AP. They brought. Babasaheb to their district and we can find hundreds of statues of Babasaheb. Culturally East Godavari people are far superior to those of Vijayawada and Guntur districts.
Editorial Board: I do not know anyone of them personally but know them as intellectuals of high calibre. They obviously started it inspired by the Dalit Voice and they follow exactly the DV line. They are connected with the Telugu National Liberation Organisation but ideologically they are closer to DV. I do not know whether they hu acknowledged it or not, but the contents justify my statement.
Contents: There are some articles rewritten from DV (by N.K. Sharma) in an easy style (not as translations) but not acknowledged to the author. But the central idea is correctly projected.
The Oct. 91 issue has two articles of the Editor of DV – one on Christians and the other on Muslims. They were edited and shortened. Unless we are thorough with the material that comes in DV (English), we cannot trace such edited writings.
As they appear very closer to our ideology, we can take them as our friends as they support the Dalit movement in AP.
This is the only journal which involves women at least on ideological lines as DV. In the previous issues there was a lot of discussion on Mandal report.
It is a journal independently working on the lines of DV
