On 21 February 1952 I was a little boy of slightly more than nine years old and a student of class three at Nawabpur High School, Dhaka. Yet I remember an interesting incident that occurred in my childhood at that time. One of my cousins, Mr Siddiqur Rahman, a B Sc student of Jagannath College used to reside with us in our 3 Ware Street rented residential house of Wari Dhaka. Dhaka was at that time a mere and quiet Mofussil town with Wari being a pure and advanced residential area full of old and mature evergreen fruits and flowery trees with rich Balda Garden in the east. One evening, most probably on 22 February 1952, Siddique Bhai took me with due permission from my parents to his friends living in a student mess nearby his college. I remember the room was not very big with only two beds and illuminated by an electric bulb. There gathered a number of his friends while I was seating alone on one of the beds. They were gossiping seating on the other bed. Suddenly all of them disappeared in a hurry leaving me alone on the other bed. I could not realise anything and kept on seating quiet on the bed; about half an hour later one of his friends re-entered the room in a hurry and told me, "Let us go". I accompanied him. I was brought back to our Wari residence at about 8:00 PM.
On my return home I found Siddique Bhai in a very happy and jolly mood in the house. I learnt from my mother that finding him retuning home alone without me she enquired about my whereabouts and he convincingly replied, "He is in a safe place". While my father asked as to why he returned home alone leaving me behind he replied, "We were suddenly informed that a police raid was apprehended in the mess. This alarmed us all and we left the place in a hurry". So I, being a minor boy, was forgotten and left behind in that worried moment with the hope that police will do no harm to me. My father became annoyed and rebuked him for taking me with him in that place in that troubled time. However, Siddique Bhai bowed down and embraced me asking, "Were you afraid?" I, knowing and understanding nothing, replied, "No". Siddique Bhai left this mortal world more than a decade back.
Another event that comes to my mind occurred most probably in the morning of 23 February 1952. On that day I walked up to Nawabpur Road via Thatary Bazar (now Captan Bazar). The day was cloudy and gloomy. I found a large contingent of uniformed smart police men in Khaki standing face to face at ease in arrayed files on both sides of Nawabpur Road with 303 rifles fixed with sharp bayonet to the end. The road was empty. Maybe curfew was imposed. I quietly returned home.
At that time the daily Morning News used to be printed from 2 Ware Street just adjacent to our house in the south as its original official press elsewhere was set on fire and burned. The press owner was the father of Munna, a boy of my age and friend. They hailed from Bombay. The press was housed by the father of Sumbul, a boy of my age and friend. They hailed from Bihar. One morning I was standing at our gate. A uniformed police constable in Khaki with a 303 rifle hanging on his back in guard of the Morning News press approached me with a large aluminum bowl full of Muri (puffed rice) and asked me to take them to my mother to process those with mustered oil, onion and green chilly for them. I took the bowl to my mother and asked her to process them accordingly. Being annoyed she asked me, "Who gave you these?" I told her the truth. She reluctantly processed those and returning the bowl to me warned, "You will never bring such things inside home". I never did it again. I remember another Bengali daily, Millat, that used to be printed from Ware Street at that time. The press was housed by the father of a Bengali boy of my age and friend whose name I cannot recollect and they hailed from Kolkata. He had a sweet affectionate elder sister. How funny, I have forgotten their names!                      Â
This much I personally as well as consciously remember about the immediate consequential effects of the Great Bengali Language Movement of 1952. Naturally I feel proud of experiencing such events of February 1952 as a little boy. I have also had the opportunity of meeting and listening to Canada immigrant Mr Rafiqul Islam who pioneered the movement of internationalising the Great Bengali Language Movement of 21st February 1952. In the late nineties of the past century while I was teaching at the Comilla Victoria College, he came to this college which happens to be the college of which he was a student. He made a threadbare discussion on the topic as to how tenaciously, perseveringly and tediously he made efforts to make 21 February acceptable to the world as an International Mother Language Day. At the end of his deliberations we, the members of the staff of the college, had a photo session with this illustrious son of the country and an ex-student of that college. This is a great achievement equalling the internationally acclaimed and observed May Day movement initiated in Chicago on 1 May 1886 for workers' rights. He has ranked his name with Rafique, Salam, Barkat, Jabbar and other martyrs of the 21 February 1952 language movement.
Now time has come after more than 64 years to ask ourselves and make soul-searching as to how far we could reach with the torch of 21 February Language Movement in the realm of Literature, Science, Technology, Medicine and other disciplines of knowledge. Could the spirit of 21 February influence and mature our indigenous culture to override the contemporary aggressive Hindi and Western cultures or has it made us imprudently succumb to those foreign cultures. Bangladesh has its own age-old rich religious and cultural heritage along with abundance of nature's gifts that attracted talented traders, travellers, monarchs and mystics of diverse cultures from around the world to eventually get mingled in the melting pot of Bengali culture and to enrich it. They settled in this rich lush green land favoured and purified by its mighty rivers and their numerous tributaries. Today we see that 21 February has turned into not more than a mere rite of events in which even Hindi songs and culture are aired through microphones and sky media to reach every house in the metropolis and different cities along with rural areas within Bangladesh.
Mother language has its own inherent merits and easiness in disseminating knowledge and ideas. This has been recognised and given importance in at least 14 ayahs of even Al Qur'an, one of which reads: "We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in a language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) clear to them" (Al Qur'an, 14:4). While revealing Al Qur'an through universal Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) an Arab Allah says: "We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an, in order that ye may learn wisdom" (Al Qur'an, 12:2). These ayahs intend and hint to point out the truth that there are no other languages parallel to mother tongue in acquiring or disseminating either mundane and spiritual knowledge or wisdom.        Â
The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre. E-mail: smsaifullah_khaled@yahoo.com
Great Bengali Language Movement of 1952
Md Saifullah Khaled | Published: February 21, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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