(J Uday Bhaskar Reddy)
(Haidrabad)
-His life is an ideal for this generation of journalists
-Several speakers at the condolence meeting
-Journalist leaders who paid tribute to Do Vikram Rao
The untimely death of the leader of the national journalists’ movement and senior journalist, the late Do
Kotamraju Vikram Rao, was an irreparable loss for the journalists’ movement, said several speakers. He said that Do Vikram Rao’s life, which had worked as a journalist for fifty years with social consciousness and democratic moral values and fought many battles for the rights of journalists across the country, was an ideal for journalists. He urged journalists to work hard to carry forward Vikram Rao’s ideals. A condolence meeting for the late Do.K. Vikram Rao was held at Thyagarayagana Sabha in Chikkadapalli, Hyderabad on the auspices of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) and Telangana Working Journalists Federation (TWJF). The condolence meeting, chaired by Federation State President Mamidi Somaiya, was attended by former Press Academy Chairman and Telangana BC Commission Member Tirumalagiri Surender, IFWJ Secretary Pulipalupula Anandha, senior journalist Gowri Shankar, Federation State Vice Presidents Pilli Ramchander, Bandi Vijay Kumar, Gudige Raghu, Secretary Tanniru Srinivas and others who garlanded the portrait of Vikram Rao and paid their respects. Speaking on the occasion, the speakers praised Vikram Rao as a great person who has dedicated himself to the journalists’ movement and served the journalist community for the last 60 years. They said that Vikram Rao, a Telugu, was not only a national and international level journalist but also a great leader who rose to become a union leader of that level. They said that he continued the journalists’ movement as a continuous process. They said that Vikram Rao played a key role in the founding of IFWJ, which was formed in Delhi in 1950, and that he expanded the union to 29 states across the country and led many movements on the problems of journalists.
The Federation’s state president Mamidi Somaiya, who presided over the meeting, said that Vikram Rao, who brought glory to the profession of journalism, was a pioneer for this generation of journalists. He said that Vikram Rao did not stop writing and speaking for the society and the rights of journalists until his death. He said that although many journalist associations emerged from IFWJ, and despite many conspiracies to split this association, it remained intact and strong across the country under the leadership of Vikram Rao. He praised Vikram Rao for his forty years of struggle for the rights of journalists and achieving many victories. Federation leaders and leaders of journalist associations K. Panduranga Rao, Padmanabharao, Yerramilli Rama Rao, Damera Jagadeeshwar, Bollam Srinivas, Thumu Venkataramakrishna, J. Uday Bhaskar Reddy, Ashok Goud, Parvathu, Gaddamedi Ashok and others participated in this program and paid tribute to Vikram Rao.
