February 21 was declared as the International Mother Language Day at the initiative of Bangladesh. (Photo: Getty Images)
by M A Hossain & Sobrato Mehedi Sagor 20 February 2023
‘Joy Bangla’ is the ever-increasing crescendo of the strongest slogan. It is a symbol of commitment, national spirit, and patriotism on and after the Birth of this nation. To be able to chant the most harmonious and zealous slogan in Bangla, the People of this Country had to undergo years of struggle and protest. The language movement did not only ignite the freedom movement of Bangladesh but also paved the way for linguistic freedom in the Indian subcontinent. Ekushey February (21st February) is observed as the International Mother Language Day, a day of pride and glory. Lest we forget that it has a history of struggle and profound sacrifices for protesting linguistic and cultural annihilation, which is remembered with reverence and veneration by the Nation.
In 1786, William Jones first discovered the interrelation of language and culture between Greek-Latin and Germans Gothic -Persian, which created comparative linguistics. During the pax Britannica (1815-1915) era, the research of comparative linguistics reached the epitome of its level. The research of comparative Indo-European linguistic families and non-Indo-European, Dravidian linguistic families started in Kolkata and Madras respectively. In 1853, the Scottish “home rule” movement was started against British colonialism and the research of the Dravidian linguistic family became part of anti-British colonisation. The Irish “home rule” movement(1870-1914) had an impact on British -India. Irish Annie Besant and Indian Bal Gangadhar Tilak started the “home rule” movement in India and also formed a home rule league with a view to establishing democracy and language-based provinces within British India.
In 1911, Sayed Nawab Ali first outlined the importance of the recognition of the Bangla language in provincial education seminars in Rangpur. In 1917, Tilak demanded the re-demarcation of states based on language in the Kolkata Congressional session. That time, Annie Besant was elected as the chairman of the National Congress and established its local ramifications considering languages in 1921. Dr Muhammad Shahidullah demanded the recognition of Bangla as a provincial state language at Vishwa Bharati in 1918. In 1937, Maulana Akram Khan demanded Bangla as one of the state languages of British -India in the Bengal literary council (Bongio Shahitya porisad).
During 1942-47, the demand for Bangla as a state language was gaining momentum amongst the Bangla-speaking people. On 29 July 1947, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed, VC, Aligarh University, proposed “Urdu” as the only state language in Pakistan, but Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah starkly opposed that proposal and outwitted and trumped over Dr. Ahmed by presenting cogent logic in favour of establishing Bangla as one of the state languages.
Post-partition in 1947, there was an uproar demanding Bangla as a provincial state language. Prof. Abdul Kashem organized a movement named ‘Tamaddun Majlish’, which afterwards converged all the movements into an ‘All party-state language action committee’. In 1948, Dhirendra Nath Dutto, MLA of East Bengal, raised a point of order in the Pakistan General Assembly for Bangla as one of the state languages, but it was turned down by the erstwhile Premier Liakat Ali Khan. This incident profoundly agitated the populace of East Bengal (Bangladesh) and a strong protest was demonstrated before the Governor-General M A Jinnah and Khwaja Nazimuddin.
Similarly, in 1948, Chakravarti Gopalachari, the central Governor-General of India, formed two commissions to demarcate provinces. One was the linguistic Provincial Commission, and the other was Jawaharlal-Ballav Vai-Pattabhi Sitaramayya(JVP) commission. These commissions were asked to submit a feasibility report of provincial border demarcation based on language. In 1950, the central government of Pakistan, all of a sudden, attempted to exert force to accomplish the use of Urdu in East Bengal. In India, the central government rejected the language-based provincial demarcation and created the constitution with four classes of rules. In 1951-52, there was an incipient agitation for state language in East Bengal. Similar agitation was also exhibited in India for languages-based provinces. In 1952, Mr Nehru visited Madras for the Lok Sabha election, where he faced a black flag demonstration supporting the demand of language-based Andhra Pradesh. In East Bengal, there was a violent movement for Bangla, and Andhra Pradesh started a non-violent movement.
On 21st February 1952, police fired indiscriminately on a protest March for language, where some embraced martyrdom. Martyrs’ identities on that day are testimony to the fact that the entire nation was united behind the language movement. The list of martyrs on that day was – Rafiq and Barkat, University students; Salam and Shafiur were professionals. The martyrs included a common man like Jabbar or a rickshaw puller like Awal, or a minor boy named Ohiduzzaman. This incident instilled the trepidation of impending oppression into the minds of the populace of East Bengal, and they were anything but petrified and possibly more resolved on fighting for their mother language.
In 1953, the “Joint front” came to power, and in 1956, Joint Front, led by Abu Hossain, declared the 21st of February as the ‘Martyrs’ day’ and a general holiday and also recognised Bangla as 2nd state language. In the same year, India brought the 7th amendment to the constitution and reformed the border demarcation of provinces based on languages, repealing the 1950s state formation. Consequently, in 1960, Bombay split into Maharashtra and Gujarat. Gujarat, Haryana, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Madras, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were formed based on Gujarati, Hindi, Asomya, Bangla, Oriya, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages.
So, Bangla is the only language, which is allowed to be spoken by its native speakers at the cost of lives. West Pakistan tried to subjugate East Pakistan by imposing ‘Urdu’ as the State language, with the nefarious scheme of converting the educated Bangalees into illiterate and incompetent for Government Executive jobs overnight. Their ploy was imbued greatly by the British colonists, who, in the similar fashion, proselytised Muslims into an incompetent ethnicity by declaring English as the State language instead of Farsi during the mid-nineteenth century.
In 1999, Ekushey February (21st February) was awarded the status of International Mother Language Day by the United Nations. A theatre group from Gafargaon (Mymensingh district) named “Gafargaon Theater” first demanded international recognition for 21 February in 1999. In 1999, Gafargaon Theatre brought out a publication named “Orgho(oblation)” on the occasion of 21st February, where they reverberated their demand for labelling 21st February as International Mother Language Day. In the same year, this organisation brought out a procession with graffiti, leaflets, and posters demanding ‘Bishwo matri vasa dibos chai- Ekushey er antorjatic sikriti chai (demand for International Mother Language Day-demand for 21 February’s international recognition)”. At last, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s initiative and her team ex-minister A. S. H. K Sadek, Dr Sadat Hossain, Ambassador Sayed Moazzem Ali, Tozammel Haq(Tony), and Bangladeshi Canadian resident Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam made the nation proud by bringing recognition for 21st February as the International Mother Language Day by the UNESCO.
Ekushey February is when our national pride is heightened at the helm. The whole world is now recognising our spirit and zeal for our own culture and heritage. Our sacrifices will be truly appreciated and commemorated when every nation imbibes the sense to pay proper homage to their linguistic heritage of diversity.
M A Hossain, political and defence analyst.
Sobrato Mehedi Sagor, is a Barrister-at- law.