Language Movement in perspective

On March 24, 1940, Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Huq (1873-1962), the then Prime Minister of Bengal (1937-1943), created history by declaring the Lahore Resolution. He declared: "No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign."
The phrase "independent states" in the Lahore Resolution was not a typical error. It took into account the historical facts from the philosophy of 1905 split of Bengal. In it were the seeds of Language Movement of 1952 and the subsequent quest for the political identity of Bangladesh. Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), the founder of Pakistan, who did not anticipate it slashed "s" from the independent states from the Lahore Resolution.
After the creation of Pakistan, choosing a state language provided a challenge. Pakistan was divided into two wings viz West Pakistan (currently Pakistan) and East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh).
The state language of India is Hindi. In the light of this fact, the central leaders of Pakistan and the intellectuals of Urdu wanted Urdu as the sole state language of Pakistan.
Fazlur Rahman (1919-1988), the first Federal Education Minister of Pakistan, declared Urdu as the state language of Pakistan. It was not acceptable in the then East Pakistan where the people did not speak it. The distance between East Pakistan and West Pakistan was more than 1,000 miles. Besides, there were cultural, social, political and economic differences between the then two wings of the new state.
On September 1, 1947, Principal Abul Quasem (1920-1991) established Tamaddun Majlish, a cultural organisation in Dhaka. It soon realised that Pakistan was no longer run by the promised idealism meaning social, economic and political concepts.
Tamaddun Majlish, which played a significant role in launching the Language Movement, made it clear that Bangla also should be a state language alongside Urdu.
On December 6, 1947, the first protest meeting was held on the campus of Dhaka University against the unilateral decision of the National Educational Conference held in Karachi in the then West Pakistan.
Towards the end of December 1947, the first Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad (RSP) or the State Language Action Committee (SLAC) was formed to press the demand for Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.
Dr Muhammad Shahidullah (1885-1969), the celebrated educationist, writer, philologist and linguist pointed out: "Urdu is not the native language in any part of Pakistan. If we have to choose a second state language, we should consider Urdu."       
The late Abul Mansur Ahmed (1886-1974), the well-known politician and writer rightly said: "If Urdu becomes the state language of Pakistan, the educated in East Pakistan would become illiterate and ineligible for government positions." It was considered a conspiracy for taking down Bangla and Bangalis.
The late Dhirendranath Datta (1886-1974), a legislator from East Pakistan, argued that out of 69 million population of Pakistan, 44 million was from East Pakistan; so Bangla deserved to be one of the state languages of Pakistan.
Despite the protest, Liaquat Ali Khan (1896-1951), the first Prime Minister of Pakistan and Khawaja Nazimuddin (1894-1964), the then Chief Minister of East Pakistan, opposed Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.  
With the RSP in Dhaka and elsewhere in the province, the Language Movement turned into a mass movement in the then East Pakistan. On March 11, 1948, a general strike was observed throughout the country to press the demand for Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.
Following the rallies, politicians Abdul Wahed, Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975), Kazi Golam Mahboob, Oli Ahad (1927-2012), Shamsul Huq (1918-1965), Shawkat Ali (1918-1975) and other political leaders as well as student leaders Abdul Malek Ukil (1925-1987) and Abdul Matin (1926-2014) were arrested.
It was a restive East Pakistan that Jinnah, the Governor-General of Pakistan arrived in Dhaka on March 19, 1948. He proclaimed firmly: "Urdu and only Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan." Even before leaving Dhaka, Jinnah in his radio address repeated the point.
Jinnah's point drew immediate protest from the students whom he addressed at the Curzon Hall of Dhaka University and also his address at the public meeting at the Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka.
On June 24, 1949, Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani (1880-1976) formed East Pakistan Awami Muslim League (EPAML) as founding President and Shamsul Haque of Tangail was its General Secretary.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the General Secretary of EPAML from 1953 to 1966. In 1953, he dropped the term "Muslim" from EPAML in the council meeting of Awami League (AL). As a result, EPAML was known as East Pakistan Awami League (EPAL). He was its President from 1966 to 1974.
Jinnah died on September 11, 1948 and Liaquat was assassinated on October 16, 1951. After the death of Liaquat, Khawaja Nazimuddin succeeded Liaquat to become the second Prime Minister of Pakistan.
On January 27, 1952, Khawaja Nazimuddin during his visit to Dhaka, addressed a public meeting at Paltan Maidan and said: "The people of East Pakistan will decide what their provincial language will be, but the state language of Pakistan will be Urdu." It added momentum to the students for Language Movement in the then East Pakistan, "We want Bangla as a state language." It became the rallying slogan for the students in East Pakistan.
On January 31, 1952, an All Party Central Language Action Committee (APCLAC) was formed at a meeting chaired by Maulana Bhasani. This time the federal government of Pakistan proposed for writing Bangla in Arabic script. The idea was rejected at the meeting of the APCLAC.
On February 21, 1952, the APCLAC called a general strike throughout East Pakistan to press the demand for Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan. Failing to control the student agitation, police opened fire on their procession. Abdul Jabbar (1919-1952) and Abdul Barkat (1927-1952) both M A students of Political Science, Dhaka University and Abdus Salam (1925-1952) were killed and many students were injured. At that time, the Chief Minister of then East Pakistan was Nurul Amin (1893-1974). He too opposed the demand of Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.
With the support of AL, the APCLAC observed February 21 as the Day of Martyrs known as Shaheed Dibosh in Bengali.
The Language Movement opened a new horizon in the politics in East Pakistan. In 1954 election to the provincial assembly of then East Pakistan, the United Front, the opposition alliance, led by Shere-Bangla alongside Maulana Bhasani, Suhrawardy and Bangabandhu defeated the ruling Muslim League. It was a landslide win for the United Front, which won 300 out of 309 seats. Muslim League won only 9 seats. The Sher-e-Bangla became the Chief Minister of then East Pakistan.
On August, 1955, Sher-e-Bangla became the Home Minister of Pakistan. He worked hard to establish Bangla Academy to promote, develop and preserve Bangla language. As a result, on December 3, 1955, the Bangla Academy was born. He was the governor of East Pakistan (1956-58). On February 16, 1956, the federal government declared both Bangla and Urdu as the state languages of Pakistan.  
The Language Movement became the driving force behind Bengali nationalism. On February 12, 1966, Bangabandhu declared the historic six-point programme as the Magna Carta for the Bangalis.
On March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu in his address at the Race Course Maidan declared, "The struggle this time is the struggle for freedom, the struggle this time is the struggle for our survival." It led to the War of Independence against Pakistan. On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh was liberated. Bangladesh emerged in the world map as a new nation through the unconditional surrender of 96,000 Pakistani Army. Colonel (retd) Mohammad Ataul Ghani Osmany (1918-1984), was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the War of Independence of Bangladesh. All members of the Armed Forces and the freedom fighters fought under the command of Osmany. After independence, Osmany was made a full General.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (1892-1963) and Abdul Hashim (1905-1974) tried to establish independence and sovereign United Bengal as well as Greater Bengal, comprising whole Bengal, Asam and the adjoining districts of Bihar on the eve of 1947, but their mission failed due to the opposition of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As a result, based on religion, predominantly Hindu West Bengal and Muslim East Bengal became a province of India and Pakistan respectively.
It may be mentioned here that both Suhrawardy and Hashim were born in West Bengal while Sher-e-Bangla was born in East Bengal. It was natural to create Greater Bengal for Suhrawardy and Hashim but not knowing about the interest of West Bengal Hindus.   
If the Language Movement of 1952 did not happen, the historical six-point demand would not awaken the Bangalis in 1966. And finally, in 1971, the War of Independence would not take place if the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 according to the Lahore Resolution moved by Sher-e-Bangla. Sher-e-Bangla was concerned about the poor condition of Muslims in East Bengal. Thus, he was the very SOUL of the War of Independence of Bangladesh. History followed its own path. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975), the father of nation and the unparalleled leader of the War of Independence of Bangladesh accomplished this vision of history by leading the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent state.
Today Bangla ranks fifth or sixth among the most spoken languages in the world. Nearly 230 million people speak Bangla. Bangla is the state and official language of Bangladesh. The national anthems of both India and Bangladesh were written by the Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). On September 24, 1974, Bangladesh became a member of the United Nations (UN). Bangbandhu was the first to address in Bangla in the UN General Assembly.
February 21 is observed every year to commemorate the martyrs of the Language Movement of Bangladesh. On November 17, 1999, it was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the International Mother Language Day for observance globally. It was recognition of the sacrifices of the language martyrs of Bangladesh who laid down their lives for the establishment of due place of the mother tongue.  

The writer is based in Aurora, IL, USA. Email: iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net