Global relevance of Language Movement
Mother language is of critical importance to the overall sustainable growth of any nation
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
What is the first word that comes out of a babys mouth is Ma, whether in Bangladesh, in the subcontinent, China or to that matter in any part of the globe? Almost in universal case the word is Ma or Mother. Then the baby learns to speak in the language which the mother speaks and that is the mother language. Similar way, a nation bounded by a geography or ethnicity has the Mother language. Language is a key to inclusion. If children cannot understand, they wont learn. Even if children from ethnolinguistic minorities manage to enrol in school, they are often unable to follow classroom instruction and end up being pushed out of the education system. This results in further marginalisation and exclusion from society. That is why the use of mother language is of critical importance to the overall sustainable growth of any nation. That is why, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) with a motto of To promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by people of the world made 21st February as The International Mother Language Day observed globally since 2000. International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999 (30C/62). On 16 May 2009 the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/61/266, called on its member states to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by people of the world. In the resolution, the General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages to promote unity in diversity and international understanding through multilingualism and multiculturalism.
This in fact is in commemoration of the first ever movement and sacrifice of lives for establishing right for mother language on 21st February 1952. When the Dominion of Pakistan was formed by the partition of India in 1947, it was composed of various ethnic and linguistic groups, with the geographically non-contiguous East Bengal province having a mainly Bengali population. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In 1999, UNESCO declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.
The first language of a child is part of the personal, social and cultural identity. The very wordings of the song Moder Gorob Moder Asha, Amori Bangla Bhasha. resonates. Another impact of the first language is that it brings about the reflection and learning of successful social patterns of acting and speaking. It is basically responsible for differentiating the linguistic competence of acting. While some argue that there is no such thing as native speaker or a mother tongue, it is important to understand the key terms as well as understand what it means to be a non-native speaker and the implications that can have on ones life.
Research suggest that while a non-native speaker may develop fluency in a targeted language after about two years of immersion, it can actually take between five and seven years for that child to be on the same working level as their native speaking counterparts. That has implications on the education of non-native speakers. There are several problems which can arise if you dont keep up your native language. For one, language changes all the time: new words are created, other words are no longer used. Spelling sometimes changes. And then theres the problem of the target language interfering with the native language. When people have lived in another country for a while and dont get the chance to hear their own native language on a regular basis, their second language tends to interfere with their native language. The result: translations that are too literal and read like translations, rather than a text written by a native speaker. When language barriers are combined with other marginalising factors such as gender, ethnicity, disability and geographical remoteness, the chances of children entering and completing basic education become very low. According to a recent Unesco Institute for Statistics report, children from marginalised groups in Bolivia, Ecuador, India and Laos, for example, are two to three times less likely to be in school.
The Language Movement in 1952 laid the foundation for an independent Bangladesh. The buildup of the Language Movement had its seeds in the partition of India in 1947 when on the basis of religious majority two very distinct group of population was combined under one nation called Pakistan, West and East. But the difference in language, culture and other traits between the inhabitants of these two geographic areas are so different that the creation of Pakistan was not feasible at all. Now lets see the brief chronology of the events that took place. September 15, 1947: Tamuddun Majlis (Cultural Society, an organization by scholars, writers and journalists oriented towards Islamic ideology) in a booklet titled State Language of Pakistan : Bengali or Urdu? demands Bengali as one of the state language of Pakistan. The Secretary of the Majlis, at that time a Professor of Physics in Dhaka University, [Abul Kashem] was the first person to convene a literary meeting to discuss the State Language issue in the Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall, a student residence of Dhaka University. Supporters and sympathizers soon afterwards formed a political party, the Khilafate-Rabbani Party with Abul Hasim as the Chairman. November 1947 : In Karachi, the representatives of East Bengal attending the Pakistan Educational Conference, called by the Minister of Education Fazlur Rahman, a Bengali, oppose Urdu as the only national language.February 23, 1948 : Direndra Nath Dutta, a Bengali opposition member, moves a resolution in the first session of Pakistans Constituent Assembly for recognizing Bengali as a state language along with Urdu and English.
The resolution was opposed by Liakat Ali, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and other non-Bengali members in the Assembly. Regrettably, this was opposed by Khawaja Nazimuddin hailing from the eastern wing and a few other Bengali collaborators of the West Pakistanis in the Assembly. Later, D. N. Dutta came up with a few amendments to the original resolution, and every time these were opposed by the west Pakistanis and their Bengali stooges. The West Pakistanis were uncompromising to such a genuine demand of the majority Bengalis. ( Rafiqul Islam)The demand for Bengali as one of the state language gathered the spontaneous support of the Bengali Civil Servants, academics, students, and various groups of middle class. Several members of the Provincial Assembly, including some ministers, were reportedly active in supporting the movement. By the end of February 1948, the controversy had spilled over on the streets. The East Pakistan Student League, founded in the first week of January by Mujibur Rahman, was in the forefront of the agitation. March 1948:
A Committee of Action of the students of Dhaka University, representing all shades of opinion leftists, rightists, and centrists is set up with the objective of achieving national status of Bengali. March 21, 1948: Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and its first Governor-General, while on a visit to East Bengal, declares in Dhaka University convocation that while the language of the province can be Bengali, the State language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Any one who tries to mislead you is really an enemy of Pakistan.The remark evoked an angry protest from the Bengali youth who took it as an affront: their language Bangla (Bengali) was, after all, spoken by fifty-four percent of the population of Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then a university student, was among those who raised the protest slogan and was placed under detention. The Dacca University campus became the focal point for student meetings in support of the Bangla language. (Siddiq Salik)Jinnah meets the student representatives of Committee of Action to persuade them of the necessity of having one national language, but the students are not convinced.The discussion of Jinnah with the student representatives could not bear any fruit but blurred the difference between the student group led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his associates and the student group led by Shah Azizur Rahman.
The National leadership resorted to repressive policies in order to crush the Bengali language and put its supporters behind bars. January 26, 1952 :The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan announces its recommendation that Urdu should be the only state language.In a public meting at Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, Prime Minister Nazimuddin declares that Urdu alone will be the state language of Pakistan.Both the developments spark off the second wave of language agitation in East Bengal. January 30, 1952 : In a secret meeting called by the Awami League, which is attended by a number of communist front as well as other organizations, it is agreed that the language agitation can not be successfully carried by the students alone. To mobilize full political and student support, it is decided that the leadership of the movement should be assumed by the Awami League under Bhashani. January 31, 1952 : Moualna Bhashani presides over an all-party convention in Dhaka. The convention is attended by prominent leaders like Abul Hashim and Hamidul Haq Choudhury. A broad-based All-Party Committee of Action (APCA) is constituted with Kazi Golam Mahboob as Convener and Maulana Bhashani as Chairman, and with two representatives from the Awami League, Students League, Youth League, Khilafate-Rabbani Party, and the Dhaka University State Language Committee of Action. February 3, 1952: Committee of Action holds a protest meeting in Dhaka against the move to dominate the majority province of East Bengal linguistically and culturally. The provincial chief of Awami League, Maulana Bhashani addresses the meeting. On the suggestion of Abul Hashim it decides to hold a general strike on 21 February, when the East Bengal Assembly is due to meet for its budget session.At 6 p.m. an order under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code prohibiting processions and meetings in Dhaka City is promulgated.
This order generated tension and resentment among the students. February 21, 1952 :general strike is observed.
Noon A meeting is held in the campus of Dhaka University. Students decide to defy the official ban imposed by Nurul Amins administration and processions are taken out to stage a demonstration in front of the Provincial Assembly. Police starts lobbing tear gas shells to the students. Students retaliate by batting bricks. The ensuing riot spreads to the nearby campuses of the Medical and Engineering colleges.
4 p.m. -The police opens fire in front of the Medical College hostel. Five persons Mohammad Salauddin, Abdul Jabbar, Abul Barkat, Rafiquddin Ahmed and Abdus Salam are killed, the first three are students of Dhaka University.The news of the killing spread like wildfire throughout the city and people rushed in thousands towards the Medical College premises. Inside the assembly, six opposition members press for the adjournment of the House and demand an inquiry into the incidents. But Chief Minister Nurul Amin urges the House to proceed with the planned agenda for the day. At this point all the opposition members of the Assembly walk out in protest.
On 7 May 1954, the constituent assembly resolved, to grant official status to Bengali. Bengali was recognised as the second official language of Pakistan on 29 February 1956, and article 214(1) of the constitution of Pakistan was reworded to The state language of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali. Although the question of official languages was settled by 1956, the military regime of Ayub Khan promoted the interests of West Pakistan at the expense of East Pakistan. Despite forming the majority of the national population, the East Pakistani population continued to be under-represented in the civil and military services, and received a minority of state funding and other government help. This was mainly due to lack of representative government in the fledgling state. Mainly due to regional economic imbalances sectional divisions grew, and support for the Bengali ethnic nationalist Awami League, which invoked the 6 point movement for greater provincial autonomy. One demand was that East Pakistan be called Bangladesh (Land/Country of Bengal), which subsequently led to the Bangladesh Liberation War. The seed sown in the song Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushey February. Ami ki bhulite pari?. What a commendable way the sacrifice on the very day of 21st February sixty five years from now is being observed in a global scale. We remember the martyrs Salam, Jabbar, Rafiq, Barkat and so many unknown who sacrificed their lives who played a very critical role in achieving our own national identity.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
