Rekindling the spirit of Ekushey

The month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2024 - the landmark event of the Ekushey observances - was ceremoniously inaugurated on the Bangla Academy premises by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last Thursday. Book fairs are held in many countries with little or no sentimentality involved, but for Bangalees, Ekushey Boi Mela is much more than a book fair. It is a window to their cultural soul. It is a symbol and a reminder of the nation's commitment to the language for which people gave their lives during the Language Movement of 1952.
In Bangladesh, writers, readers, and litterateurs eagerly await the month of February like the spring sunshine after a bitterly cold winter. The fair offers a platform for free thinkers to enrich society through their creative writing. It becomes a time to dust off the winter chills, refresh our minds, and reinvigorate the cultural identity of the nation. That being the case, it is necessary to explain the historic, political significance, and importance of the language movement.
To begin with, the agitation by the students is well documented. They had wanted Bengali to be recognised as one of the two state languages of what was then an undivided Pakistan. But even after they had succeeded, the movement did not lose its significance. It went ahead, gained strength, and momentum with the passage of time, and deeply etched its importance into the history of a nation like no other nation had done before. Ultimately, it laid the foundation of Bengali nationalism and helped develop nationalist politics based on secular democratic principles, which culminated in the War of Liberation in 1971 to liberate the country from the clutches of the Pakistani rulers of the day.
But even after it had achieved its initial objective - a state where Bengali is the only state language - the movement hadn't lost its importance since it was aimed at the emancipation of an oppressed people, with language as its declared issue. The movement of the 21st February, therefore, must be called a protest, a revolution, against the political, economic, and cultural exploitation of the people at large. The crowning lesson of Ekushey is no compromise on questions of national identity and national honour. This is why Ekushey is inalienable from patriotism. Yet, more is to be done in order to fully imbibe the ideals for which the language martyrs so selflessly laid down their lives.
A fundamental element in the language movement and the War of Liberation was secularism, which, indeed, is a basic principle of the state of Bangladesh. While this is true, equally true is the growing threat to secularism from fundamentalists, militants and anti-liberation forces that manifests and creates havoc from time to time.
The very essence of Ekushey is resistance. It's written in blood. Therefore, this is the time to reinforce the nationalist urges for resistance against the enemies of freedom, progress and humanity. Only when all citizens representing different religions, political beliefs, social classes and ideologies actively engage in collective national development efforts in the context of the Liberation War's ideals and tenets, will the country be able to grow harmoniously.
It goes without saying that Ekushey Boi Mela's objective to promote books and engender a reading habit among all age groups is of paramount importance and serves the purpose of intellectualising the psyche of the nation. In this age of digital bombardment and distraction, the book fairs can play a vital and pivotal role in inculcating reading habits especially among the young generation. Let the zeal and thirsts for learning continue to be our collective creative pursuit and our guiding principle in shaping the future of our existence as an independent nation.
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