Telugu Association of North America (TANA) was officially formed in 1978. Initially it consisted only of local and regional Telugu Associations in North America. It reached a membership of about 10,000 in the 1990’s. Individual life memberships were added in the early 1990’s.

Over the past 30 years, TANA earned a good reputation among Telugus in North America and Andhra Pradesh. However, in the past few years TANA reputation took a big hit due to allegations of membership and voter fraud.

Due to allegations of fraud in the 2003 elections, only life members were permitted to vote. Since then local and regional Telugu Associations stayed away from TANA and none of the local or regional Telugu Associations in North America are currently members of TANA.

In 2004, the total members of TANA were around 4,000. After the 2005 elections, a small group of people got together and decided to pad the membership rolls so that no one else not sanctioned by this group can win in future TANA elections.

They increased the total membership to around 7,000 and boasted that no one else could dare to contest and win in future elections. There were only two contests for association-wide elections and the people who padded the voter rolls swept to power and are in absolute control of the organization.

The current President of TANA, Mr. Prabhakar Chowdary Kakarala, was elected in 2005 as the President-Elect and moved up to his current position in 2007. Since the group elected in 2007 has full control of the Executive Committee (EC), they prevented the President from doing anything in the past 9 months.

His decision to appoint an independent committee to review new membership applications was voided so that they can keep full control of the membership rolls. The rest of EC did not agree with his decision to appoint a qualified and respected person who has strong support from the Florida Telugu community to serve as the Coordinator for the 2009 TANA Conference in Florida.

Going against past practices of TANA in the selection of a Conference Coordinator, they picked a novice who does not enjoy the support of the local Telugu community for this position. They control the TANA Patrika and the TANA website. The President is not even allowed to express his own views in the President’s Message published in every TANA Patrika.

The silent majority of TANA could not sit still and watch TANA’s reputation tarnished by the members, gofers, and, goons of a small group of people that have no respect for honesty and integrity. So the silent majority has decided to fight head on and bring their beloved TANA back to normalcy and restore its reputation.  

The silent majority undertook a vigorous membership drive and joined thousands of new members. We do not know the final number yet as this group runs its activities in a secretive fashion. But based on various regional reports, it appears that the membership total jumped explosively from 7,000 to around 35,000. We have to wait and see to find out the games the current Executive Committee is going to play.

We understand that there is an active lawsuit filed against TANA in a Maryland court by TANA members.  

Rama Mohana Rao Vadlamudi,

Ex-TANA President

Ex-Chairman, TANA Board of Trustees

Dr. Mohan Venigalla is an Associate Professor in the Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Dept. at the George Mason University. An active participant, Shri Mohan is a picture of exuberance when we broach this topic of the 2007 TANA at Washington. Ask him how he makes time for organising he replies, “Where there is a will there is a way.”

The gentleman visited the TANA held at Detroit to get a feel of how things work and now he is all set to volunteer and to make this event a grand success. A co-chairperson of the cultural committee Mohan says this is a 1.6 million dollar venture which needs to be managed professionally. He adds, “It is based on the estimates that is available right now. Some of the volunteers have professional management experience and key positions should be allocated to people who are qualified and who can get the job done efficiently. With an element of efficiency and better organisation/co-ordination, one can better the work and even avoid stress in the the last week.”

Mohan further adds, “The core team consists of four people. There are two to 300 people volunteering and we have about 32 committees. All of us work 9 to 5 and we make time between work and family life.” About Clinton’s presence at the TANA, Mohan says, “Clinton coming to TANA is the recognition of the Telugu numerical strength. Indians by far are the most prosperous people here and the Telugus are the richest here, and any recognition from the Former President of the United States means a lot to us. If Clinton says that Telugu community is a force to be reckoned with..people do take notice. That will put us on the map of the political forum.”

Cultural Committee Chairman Shri Venkat Rao Mulpuri is a professor of Electronics and Computer Engineering at George Mason University. Getting him over the phone was a herculean task and Cinema Prapancham finally cornered him last night at a friend’s place in VA. Shri Venkat Rao is also on the Board of trustees of TANA from 2007-2011. “The Telugu-speaking people here have played an important role in bringing TANA to DC again, the first one was hosted here in the year 1981,” says Venkat Rao. Ask him the reason for the split in the Association he quips, “In the early 1990s a group of people belonging to the TANA felt they weren’t getting the positions they would like to have and they formed a seperate association called ATA. But now we are working in tandem to achieve a mutual goal. A split is easy but involves a lot of effort to come together but that is possible.”

“TANA is the only democratic organ in North America,” adds Venkat Rao and says that it is but only a misconception that the association is formed based on the favouritism of a particular caste. He laments that the people back home think that way and rules out any differences between the two associations. He adds, “There is no animosity between the two associations. All I am aware is that we are all Telugu-speaking people and I don’t want to see any differences or segregation of associations based on caste. Infact we have hosted a joint press conference when Shri YS Rajashekar Reddy came here last time.”

“We are happy that Bill Clinton’s presence will make a difference to this current meet in DC and hope Chandrababu Naidu’s presence will add lustre to the festival. This is just a cultural organisation and we do not want to give any political colour to it. It’s just incidental that we have invited them and at the same time are very glad that they have accepted our invitation. Infact after we have announced that Bill Clinton is coming, we have seen a great improvement in registrations. Indian community here, mostly the Telugus, are Democrats and they are visibly elated and are looking forward to Clinton’s visit. But ultimately our goal is underlined..to spread the Telugu language in an unlimited manner.”

Jayaprada Valluripalli is a co-convener of the Food Committee for the TANA meet. She earlier was a Regional Vice President two years back and is one of those active members of the Association who wishes to see TANA hosted at DC in 2007. She also worked as a trustee to Siva-Vishnu temple and knows what goes into organising the making of temple food. Speaking to Cinema Prapancham, Jayaprada says, “If you give someone 1000$ they wont be pleased but cook a great meal and you’ve made a lasting impression on them.” She adds, “There are ten main chefs and thirty helpers. The local restaurants and food vendors will be pitching in for a small price. We are going to have a variety of Andhra dishes on those three days starting from morning seven onwards, the banquet will have a spread of 32 items veg and non-veg. There will be a hospitality committee. After registration, you will be given a coupon and the security will take the coupon and guide you, the local ladies will be the guide. Within two hours we hope to see a floating crowd of 7000 people. There will be around 18-20 stalls. The maintenance will be done by the Centre Plate, the centreville cleaners.”

Jayaparda says, “The TANA meet is like a wedding for us, we look forward to unite as many Telugus as possible. We are trying to create an awareness in the young people here, culture has improved and there is more local participation. Earlier I used to wonder what the film stars can do for us but I have noticed that by watching so many films, the younger generation has picked up the language pretty fast.”

Timings 07-10:00am breakfast
             11-01:30pm lunch
             05-07.30pm dinner

Shri Gangadhar Nadella is a native of Repalle. He’s been living in Detroit since 1985 and has served  a term as a President of TANA previously. Talking about his tenure and composition of the Association to Cinema Prapancham, he says, “In 1999-2001, the Association was a combination of Life Members (LM) and Associated Members and subsequently the latter shifted to being Life Members. From 3,100 LM we grew to 7,000. Seven years back we had all old timers. From the past few years we are getting to see recent settlers.”

Gangadhar adds, “It’s gladdening to note that youngsters are getting involved in this kind of programme, and we are looking forward to internalise and extend their involvement to conference activities as well. Sadly there is no day to day participation.”

For the Ex-President of TANA, the gathering of 8,000 people from all over at DC is like a fete. He says, “Adhi maaku jatara sambaralu laantidhi.” The cultural activities that take place is a highlight at the meet. The best of Indian talent in USA gets a chance to showcase their skills, they provide a platform to exhibit the literary, cultural activity, views, etc. Also people come to meet their friends, make new friends.

To break the monotony of the past meetings, Gangadhar says, “We are accomodating fifty two hundred people, most of them from political parties. I am the Chairman of the Political Forum where leaders and members of the political parties gather at one place and interact with the people, there is a question and answer session, it’s a semi-serious forum, opinions are solicited, there’s plenty of food for thought.”

Gangadhar reveals an interesting aspect. Inspired by the Janmabhoomi programme, the Telugus of America promoted the concept in their own special way. They had given a matching contribution to the government to develop their native places. Lot of villages have been developed. We have a ‘TANA Foundation’ which will send money to our villages. But at the moment the encouragement, promotion depends upon the government and it’s policies.

He adds, “A lot of Indians come here every day. My sincere suggestion is to stay here, learn the system, the law and order, the procedures, the discipline and apply it back home.” What makes this TANA unique? “The location, it’s within driving distance, the Capital, plenty of sight seeing and other activities. Shri Chandra Babu Naidu’s presence and ofcourse another achievement is we have invited Bill Clinton too. There are cinema people, live music which will be telecast on Prime Time. I just hope the artistes who are coming here would take this programme a bit seriously, with more practice and regale our Telugus here.”

Dr. Hema Prasad Yadla has been a life member of Telugu Association for the past twenty years. Though he wasn’t involved in the administration of TANA, this time he was requested to become the co-ordinator of the 16th gathering in Washington D.C. Speaking to Cinema Prapancham, Dr. Hema Prasad says, “We have wonderful volunteers who are willing to put in that extra effort and make this event a grand success. We are working towards making the 16th TANA meet a different one from the way it was conducted in the past.”

Dr. Hema Prasad a native of Chiluvuru in Guntur district had relocated to America 32 years back and eversince had been living at Washington D.C. He adds about his roots, “As long as I stayed in my country I didn’t move from my village and intha dooram vacchaka ekkadiki vellaledhu.” An affable, down to earth and a straight forward man, the Doctor had done his bit for his village and has many more plans. “I am constructing a library, I plan to build a stadium in the high school, and ma amma peru mida oka scholarship begin cheddam anukuntunnanu for outgoing girl students. And everytime I’m here I would run a clinic though on a temporary basis.” 

Despite the development in his village in terms of infrastructure and technology, he is not happy with many things, the foremost being culture. He says, “Culture wise we haven’t moved much. Manishi manishi ki maryadhalu undevi okappudu. Na interest koddhi nenu elthunna thappa na meedha evariki undadhu.” He continues, “Though I love Chiluvuru I don’t think I will ever come back to stay on.”

The Doctor expresses anguish and says the language faces a threat of extinction. “Here in schools we are taught French, Spanish, German, Sanskrit but Telugu as a language is not recognised. We have seen an encouragement for the language in the past few years in Dallas, Michigan, etc., but we need to do much more. Just not in USA, even in our Country and our State there is an urgency to propitiate the language. Telugu is taught only till fifth standard in private educational institutions. In the US we have a lot of people who speak Telugu but very few who can read and write.

We might face an extinction of the language in another 70 years. That is the reason and purpose of highlighting it’s importance here on 5th, 6th & 7th July. Telugu mana velugu, mana bhavam, mana Jeevam. It is the language that gives us an identity. Mana bhaashani, mana folk arts ni mana sampradayanni manam kaapadukovalasina baadhyata manaki vundhi.”

The 16th TANA meet will be held at the national capital Washington DC on the 5th, 6th and 7th of July. What’s noteworthy here is the gathering is taking place after 25 years in this place.

In the last 25 years the Telugu populace in America has grown and there is going to be a magnificent display just not of it’s numerical strength but also the culture of the Telugu people in the national capital. The agenda to be taken up here is to cultivate the sweet language amongst the NRIs and the demand for it’s recognition through TANA.

About four hundered volunteers are working very hard to make this conference a success and a whopping 10,000 people will be meeting in this one place. There will be an eclectic mix of celebs and people from all walks of life. The film stars who have given their confirmation for the visit are Siddarth, Ileana, Balakrishna, Mahesh Babu, etc. Murali Mohan will be ferrying a troupe of comedians and our sources say Balakrishna will be performing live on stage..as Sri Krishna Devaraya. There will be workshops on script writing too. A cruise with the stars on the Potomac River will be a major attraction. There will be a matrimonial convention too.

The other dignitaries are Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chandrababu Naidu, Devender Goud, Indrasena Reddy and probably Central Minister Purandareswari. Adapa Prasad, the Chairperson of Publicity has already begun preparations. In the American Govt - Chairman and Co-Chairman of India Caucus, Republican Joe Wilson, Democrat Jim McDermott, Washinton DC Mayor Adrian Centy, Senators Benjamin Cardil and Barbara Mcluski, DC Congresswoman Eleanor Nordon Holmes will be present.