The indomitable spirit of Ekushey

Sixty-two years ago, in 1952, the Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in the then Pakistan. It became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the emerging self-rule consciousness in 1954 general election, a student movement in 1962,   the 6-point movement, the uprising in 1969 and finally the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The supreme sacrifice of the martyrs of the language movement on the 21st February, 1952 became an epitome of inspiration of sustaining self- consciousness and self-dignity as a nation. It yielded  only nation in the globe which is named after its language. The 21st February had been such an epoch-making incident which has been immortalised through global recognition as the International Mother Language Day. We, as a nation, feel proud today that Bangladesh, Bangla and the supreme sacrifices in our language movement are being pronounced, much-admired, gratefully remembered and honoured worldwide.  
After the partition of India in 1947, Bengali-speaking people in East Pakistan (also known as East Bengal) made up 44 millions of the newly-formed Pakistan's 69 million people. The Pakistani administration, civil services, and military, however, were dominated by West Pakistanis. In 1947, a key resolution at a national education summit in Karachi advocated Urdu as the sole state language, and its exclusive use in the media and in schools. Protests erupted immediately. Students from Dhaka rallied under the leadership of Abul Kashem (1920-1991), the secretary of Tamaddun Majlish, a Bengali Islamic cultural organisation. The meeting pleaded for Bengali as an official language of Pakistan and as a medium of education in East Pakistan. However, the Pakistan Public Service Commission removed Bengali from the list of approved subjects, as well as from currency notes and stamps. The central education minister of Pakistan made extensive preparations to make Urdu the only state language of Pakistan. Public outrage spread and a large number of Bengali students met around the campus of the University of Dhaka on December 8 1947 to formally demand that Bengali be made an official language. To promote their cause, Bengali students organised processions and rallies in Dhaka. It was not an instantly-initiated or motivated movement. The demand had a long historical backup.
The debate over the position and use of Bangla, the mother tongue of the people of Bengal particularly of the Muslims, is traced back to the seventeenth century, as documented in the poems of Abdul Hakim (1620-1690) of Sandwip, Noakhali. The seventeenth century bard was hesitant to classify, if not condemn, those, who were born in Bengal but hate Bangla. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders. Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (1873-1965), an educationist and social reformer, pronounced strongly in 1918, in one of his oration ( Bangabhasha o Musalman Shahitya, the Bengali language and the literature of the Muslims) that one  must respect Bangla and recognise its incomparability over other languages like Urdu etc. Ahsanullah made this observation in the event of some inventiveness of contemporary intelligentsia to establish Urdu as the lingua franca of Muslims in Bengal. As early as the late 19th century, social activists such as Muslim feminist Roquia Sakhawat Hussain (1880-1932) were choosing to write in Bengali to reach out to the people and develop it as a modern literary language. Exactly 25 years earlier of February 1952, two papers were presented on the second day of the two-day First Annual Literary Conference (February 27-28, 1927) of the Muslim Shahitya Shamaj, the  Muslim Literary Society, on the appropriateness of the use of Bangla in the Muslim society in general and education in particular. Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) had inaugurated the conference. Abul Hussain (1896-1938), Secretary and one of the founders of the Shaitya Shamaj, which led the Shikkha Movement, in his paper said that the mother language barrier had been the major obstacle on the way of social development of the Muslim community in Bengal.
Since then, the leading Bengali scholars argued why only Urdu should not be the state language. The linguist Dr Muhammad Shahidullah (1885-1969) pointed out that Urdu was not the native language of any part of Pakistan, and said, "If we have to choose a second state language, we should consider Urdu." Prolific writer Abul Mansur Ahmed (1897-1079) said if Urdu became the state language, the educated society of East Pakistan would become 'illiterate' and 'ineligible' for government positions. The first Rastrabhasa Sangram Parishad (National Language Action Committee), an organisation in favour of Bengali as a state language, was formed towards the end of December 1947. Professor Nurul Huq Bhuiyan  of the Tamaddun Majlish convened the committee. Later, parliament member Shamsul Huq convened a new committee to push for Bengali as a state language. Dhirendranath Datta (1886-1971), a member of the East Bengal General Assembly,   proposed legislation in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to allow members to speak in Bengali and authorise its use for official purposes. Datta's proposal was supported by several legislators of East Bengal as well as the people from the region.  Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and the Muslim League denounced the proposal as an attempt to divide the Pakistani people, thus the legislation was defeated.
Students of the Dhaka University and other colleges of the city organised a general strike on March 11 1948 to protest the omission of Bengali language from official use, including coins, stamps and recruitment tests for the navy. The movement restated the demand that Bengali be declared an official language of Pakistan. In the height of civic unrest, Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah  (1876-1948) arrived in Dhaka on March 19 1948. On March 21, at a civic reception at the Racecourse Ground, he claimed that the language issue was designed by a 'fifth column' to divide Pakistani Muslims. Jinnah further declared that 'Urdu, and only Urdu' embodied the spirit of the Muslim nation and would remain as the state language.  The Urdu-Bengali controversy was reignited when Jinnah's successor, governor-general Khawaja Nazimuddin, staunchly defended the 'Urdu-only' policy in a speech on January 27 1952. On January 31, the Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod (All-Party Central Language Action Committee) was formed at a meeting at the Bar Library Hall of the Dhaka University, chaired by Maulana Bhashani (1880-1976). The central government's 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 February 21, including strikes and rallies. Students of the Dhaka University and other institutions gathered on the university premises on February 04 and warned the government to withdraw its proposal to write Bengali in Arabic script, and insisted on the recognition of Bengali. As the preparation for demonstrations was going on, the government imposed Section 144 in the city of Dhaka, thereby banning any gatherings of more than four people.
Although the Language Movement is considered to have laid the foundation of ethnic nationalism in most of the Bengalis of East Pakistan, it also heightened the cultural animosity between the authorities of the two wings of Pakistan.
In fact, the Ekushey February played an important role in making Bengalis aware of their cultural and national heritage and ultimately led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.  After 1971, even today, the Ekushey has been a guiding philosophy for any movement against oppression, injustice, disparity and denial of civic rights and for socio-economic emancipation of the people of Bangladesh.  Since 2000, February 21 is also being observed as International Mother Language Day in global recognition of those who had sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue.
The writer is a former Chairman               NBR and former Secretary                            to the government.                     [email protected]