All ways lead to the Shaheed Minar on 21st February each year in chores singing the Amar Ekushey Song, "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami Ki bhulite pari?" This remains a sign of indomitable Bangladeshi spirits against oppression and draconian rules. The song was written by Abdul Ghaffar Chowdury and the tune was given by Shahid Altaf Chowdhury. This is in commemoration of the sacrifice made for the rights to speak in the mother language on the very day in 1952. Significance of the Mother Language Day
On 21 February
1952, a meeting was held in the campus of Dhaka University and the students decided to defy the official ban imposed. The police opened fire in front of the Medical College hostel where the students staged demonstration. Some people were killed. Next day, thousands of men and women thronged the university, Medical College and Engineering College areas to offer prayers for the victims of the police firing
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
All ways lead to the Shaheed Minar on 21st February each year in chores singing the Amar Ekushey Song, Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushey February, Ami Ki bhulite pari? This remains a sign of indomitable Bangladeshi spirits against oppression and draconian rules. The song was written by Abdul Ghaffar Chowdury and the tune was given by Shahid Altaf Chowdhury. This is in commemoration of the sacrifice made for the rights to speak in the mother language on the very day in 1952.
This is the first ever in the history of the world that people sacrificed their lives for the rights of own Language. This year we will be celebrating 65th anniversary of our Language Movement. Month long Book Fair (Boi Mela) is held every year in the premises of Bangla Academy which was started by a local publication entity Muktodhara on 21st February in 1972. Later on since 1978, Bangla Academy took over the responsibility to run. Boi Mela started merely as a book fair, it has evolved into a national cultural festival reflecting the cultural spirit of the modern Bengali nation. In addition to book sales, Bangla Academy organises literary and cultural events every day. Thousands of people gather to purchase books and to spend time in the company of books and their authors with a patriotic zeal. There is no entry fee. Publishers of Bangladesh take year-long preparation to publish a huge number of books during this month. Since the events of February 1952, poems, songs, novels, plays, films, cartoons and paintings were created to capture the movement from varied point of views. Notable artistic depictions include the poems Bornomala, Amar Dukhini Bornomala and February 1969 by poet Shamsur Rahman, the film Jibon Theke Newa by Shahid Zahir Raihan, the stage play Kobor by Shahid Muneir Chowdhury. Bangladesh officially sent a proposal to UNESCO to declare 21 February as International Mother Language Day. The proposal was supported unanimously at the 30th General Conference of UNESCO held on 17 November 1999.
The present nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of undivided India during the British Colonial rule. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders, such as Sir Khwaja Salimullah, Sir Syed Ahmed and other stalwarts.
Urdu is an Indo Aryan Language of the Indo-Iranian Branch belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence on apabrahmas (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language Pali Palkrit) in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.
While the use of Urdu grew common with Muslims in northern India, the Muslims of Bengal (a province in the eastern part of British Indian sub-continent) primarily used the Bengali language. Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan Language that arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages around 1000 CE and developed considerably during the Bengal Renaissance. As early as the late 19th century, social activists such as the Begum Rukaya Sakhawat were choosing to write in Bengali to reach out to the people and develop it as a modern literary language. Supporters of Bengali opposed Urdu even before the partition of India, when delegates from Bengal rejected the idea of making Urdu the lingua franca of Muslim India in the 1937 Lucknow session of the Muslim League. The Muslim League was a political party that became the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state separate from British India. After the end of British rule over India and Pakistan in 1947, Pakistan was split into two and was separated by India: East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan).
As the founder of the new government of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu the official language despite the fact that the majority of East Pakistan spoke Bangla. Then, on January 27, 1952, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Nazimuddin reiterated Ali Jinnahs declaration of a state language which led to an organised demonstration by Bengali students.
After the end of British rule over India and Pakistan in 1947, Pakistan was split into two and was separated by India: East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan). As the founder of the new government of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Urdu the official language despite the fact that the majority of East Pakistan spoke Bangla.
Then, on January 27, 1952, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Nazimuddin reiterated Ali Jinnahs declaration of a state language which led to an organized demonstration by Bengali students as an official language of the Dominion of Pakistan and as a medium of education in East
Bengal.
However, the Pakistan Public Service Commission removed Bengali from the list of approved subjects, as well as from currency notes and stamps. Leading Bengali scholars argued why only Urdu should not be the state language.
The writer Abul Mansur Ahmed said if Urdu became the state language, the educated society of East Bengal would become illiterate and ineligible for government positions. The first Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad (National Language Action Committee), an organisation in favour of Bengali as a state language was formed towards the end of December 1947.
A legislation brought in by Assembly member Dhirendranath Data to allow members of assembly to speak in Bengali and use the Language for official purposes was denounced by Prime Minister Liakat Ali Khan and Muslim League reasoning that it was a motion in order to create division and thus the motion was defeated.
Governor General of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah arrived in Dhaka on 19 March 1948. On 21 March, at a civic reception at the Race Course Ground, he claimed that the language issue was designed by a vested fifth column group to divide Pakistani Muslims. He further declared that Urdu, and only Urdu embodied the spirit of Muslim nations and would remain as the state language, labelling those who disagreed with his views as Enemies of Pakistan. Jinnah delivered a similar speech at Curzon Hall of the University of Dhaka on 24 March. At both meetings, Jinnah was interrupted by large segments of the audience. He later called a meeting of a state language committee of action, and overruled the contract that was signed by Khawaja Nazimuddin with the student leaders. Before Jinnah left Dhaka on 28 March, he delivered a speech on radio reasserting his Urdu-only policy. The Urdu-Bengali controversy was reignited when Jinnahs successor, governor-general Khawja Nazimuddin staunchly defended the Urdu-only policy in a speech on 27 January 1952. On 31 January, the All-Party Central Language Action Committee was formed in a meeting at the Bar Library Hall of the University of Dhaka, chaired by Maulana Bhashani. The central governments proposal of writing the Bengali language in Arabic script was vehemently opposed at the meeting. The action committee called for an all out protest on 21 February, including strikes and rallies. In an attempt to prevent the demonstration, the government imposed Section 144 in Dhaka, thereby banning any gathering. At nine oclock in the morning, students began gathering on the University of Dhaka premises in defiance of Section 144. The university vice-chancellor and other officials were present as armed police surrounded the campus. By a quarter past eleven, students gathered at the university gate and attempted to break the police line.
Police fired tear gas shells towards the gate to warn the students. A section of students ran into the Dhaka Medical College while others rallied towards the university premises cordoned by the police. The vice-chancellor asked police to stop firing and ordered the students to leave the area. However, the police arrested several students for violating section 144 as they attempted to leave. Enraged by the arrests, the students met around the East Bengal Legislative Assembly blocked the legislators way, asking them to present their insistence at the assembly. When a group of students sought to storm into the building, police opened fire and killed a number of students, including Abdus Salam. Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar. As the news of the killings spread, disorder erupted across the city. Shops, offices and public transport were shut down and a general strike began. At the assembly, six legislators including Manoranjan Dhar, Boshontokumar Das, Shamsuddin Ahmed and Dhirendranath Datta requested that chief minister Nurul Amin visit the wounded students in hospital and that the assembly be adjourned as a sign of mourning. This motion was supported by some treasury bench members including Maulana Tarkabagish, Shorfuddin Ahmed, Shamsuddin Ahmed Khondokar and Mosihuddin Ahmed. However, Nurul Amin refused the requests.The Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod, with support from the Awami Muslim League, decided to commemorate 21 February as Shohid Dibosh (Martyrs Day). On the first anniversary of the protests, people across East Bengal wore black badges in solidarity with the victims. Most offices, banks and educational institutions were closed to observe the occasion. Student groups made agreements with college and police officials to preserve law and order. More than 100,000 people assembled at a public meeting held in Armanitola in Dhaka, where community leaders called for the immediate release of Maulana Bhashani and other political prisoners.
On 7 May 1954, the constituent assembly resolved, with the Muslim Leagues support, 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. Political tensions came to a head as elections to the provincial assembly of East Bengal were held in 1954. The ruling Muslim League denounced the opposition United Front coalition, whichled AK Fazlul Haque (Shere Bangla) and the Awami Leaguewanted greater provincial autonomy. Several United Front leaders and activists were arrested. The United Front won a vast majority of seats in the legislative assembly, while the representation of the Muslim League was reduced to a historic low.The United Front ministry ordered the creation of the Bangla Academy to promote, develop, and preserve Bengali language, literature, and heritage.
However, the military government formed by Ayub Khan made attempts to re-establish Urdu as the sole national language. On 6 January 1959, the military regime issued an official statement and reinstated the official stance of supporting the 1956 constitutions policy of two state languages. 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 representatives from the East 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 historic 6 points demand 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.
Divide and Conquer was the main mantra of British Raaj, once where the sun never set. The partition of the subcontinent in three countries on the basis of religious majority is yet another example of this policy. The creation of Pakistan (East and West) on the basis of religion itself had the seed embedded since its inception. There were dissimilarities in the people of these two lands in all aspects other than religion. Jute was the main source of revenue for Pakistan which was grown in the Easter part but the major portion of the wealth was allocated to Western part.
The rights in development works, education, opportunities for job for West was prevalent over East. The cultural rites were also very different. The oppression on the cultural front was therefore evident to create a kind of immunity on the part of the ruling class. There were influential families in the Easter part who supported the fanatical attitude of the West primarily due to the commonality in roots during the British rule or even predating. That is why we saw these people supporting the ruling class from West Pakistan and creating blocks in legislation for the rights of the East. These influential families played the religion card and tend to relate Bangla with Hinduism!
Bengali evolved circa 10001200 AD from Sanskrit and Magadhi Prakrit.The local Apabhraṃśa of the eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa (Meaningless Sounds), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups of the Bengali-Assamese languages, the Bihari languages and the Odia language. Some argue that the points of divergence occurred much earlier going back to even 500, but the language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period.
For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around the 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterized by the elison of word-final অ , the spread of compound verbs and Arabic and Persian influences. Bengali was an official court language of the Sultanate of Bengal. Muslim rulers promoted the literary development including that of Halkhata (Bengali New Year). Bengali became the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. This period saw borrowing of Perso-Arabic terms into Bengali vocabulary.
Major texts of Middle Bengali (14001800) include Chandidas Shreekrishna Kirtan. What stated in 1947 in the form of irrational partition of the subcontinent and creation of Pakistan in the justification of religion went through various landmarks in 1952, 1969 and ultimately 1971. In the same way, 21st February, 26th March, 16th December are not only numbers, commemorating days but the rise of the spirits of indomitable Bangla national spirits. Joy Bangla is not a slogan but the reflection of the sentiment of a nation. Let the spirits of sacrifice enlighten us and be our guidance for the future.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
