Moturi Satyanarayana
| Satyanarayana Moturi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 February 1902 Dondapadu, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh |
| Died | March 6, 1995 (aged 93) |
| Occupation | freedom fighter |
| Spouse(s) | Shrimati Suryakanta Devi |
Satyanarayana Moturi (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.
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