Language Movement Day: Difference between revisions

{{Use Bangladeshi English|date=February 2023}}

|nickname = {{lang-bn|ভাষা শহীদ দিবস}} (''Bhasha Shôhid Dibôs'')

|firsttime = 1955<ref name="Islam1994" />

[[File:Partition of India.PNG|thumb|Britain's holdings on the [[Indian subcontinent]] were granted independence in 1947 and 1948, so becoming four new independent states: [[Dominion of India|India]], [[Post-independence Burma, 1948–1962|Burma]], [[Dominion of Ceylon|Ceylon]], and [[Dominion of Pakistan|Pakistan]] (including [[East Bengal]], from 1971 [[Bangladesh]]).]]

After the [[partition of India]] in 1947, Bengali-speaking people in [[East Bengal]], the non-contiguous eastern part of the [[Dominion of Pakistan]], made up 44 million of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan's 69 million people.<ref name="Banglapedia">{{cite book |last=Al Helal |first=Bashir |year=2012 |chapter=Language Movement |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Language_Movement |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307033428/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Language_Movement |archive-date=7 March 2016}}</ref> The Dominion of Pakistan's government, civil services, and military, however, were dominated by personnel from the western wing of the Dominion of Pakistan.<ref name=JSToldenburg>{{cite journal |last=Oldenburg |first=Philip |date=August 1985 |title='A Place Insufficiently Imagined': Language, Belief, and the Pakistan Crisis of 1971 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=711–733 |issn=0021-9118 |doi=10.2307/2056443 |jstor=2056443 |s2cid=145152852 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=Morning News |date=7 December 1947}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=[[The Azad]] (a daily newspaper) |language=bn |publisher=Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, Dhaka |date=11 December 1948}}</ref> Opposition and protests immediately arose. Students from [[Dhaka]] rallied under the leadership of [[Principal Abul Kashem|Abul Kashem]], the secretary of [[Tamaddun Majlish]], a Bengali Islamic cultural organisation. The meeting stipulated Bengali as an official language of the Dominion of Pakistan and as a medium of education in East Bengal.<ref name="umarharv1">{{Cite book |last=Umar |first=Badruddin |year=1979 |script-title=bn:পূর্ব বাংলার ভাষা আন্দোলন ও তাতকালীন রজনীতি |title=Purbo-Banglar Bhasha Andolon O Totkalin Rajniti |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.265835/page/n53/mode/1up |location=Dhaka |publisher=Agamee Prakashani |language=bn |page=35}}</ref> 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 [[Fazlur Rahman (politician)|Fazlur Rahman]] made extensive preparations to make Urdu the only state language of the Dominion of Pakistan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Al Helal |first=Bashir |author-link=Bashir Al Helal |date=2003 |title=Bhasa Andolaner Itihas |trans-title=History of the Language Movement |language=bn |location=Dhaka |publisher=[[Agamee Prakashani]] |pages=227–228 |isbn=984-401-523-5}}</ref> Public outrage spread and a large number of Bengali students met on the [[University of Dhaka]] campus on 8 December 1947 to formally demand that Bengali be made an official language. To promote their cause, Bengali students organised processions and rallies in Dhaka. The language movement prompted the people of East Bengal (later East Pakistan) to establish a separate national identity, distinct from that of the remainder of Pakistan (later [[West Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.daily-sun.com/post/293072/University-of-Dhaka-Language-Movement-and-Birth-of-a-Nation- |title=University of Dhaka, Language Movement and Birth of a Nation |work=Daily Sun |language=en |access-date=20 January 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221195049/https://www.daily-sun.com/post/293072/University-of-Dhaka-Language-Movement-and-Birth-of-a-Nation- |url-status=live}}</ref>)

At nine o'clock on the morning of 21 February 1952, students began gathering on the premises of the University of Dhaka in defiance of [[Unlawful Assembly|Section 144]] of the [[Pakistan Penal Code|penal code]]. The university vice-chancellor and other officials were present as armed police surrounded the campus. By a quarter past eleven, students gathered at the university gate and attempted to break the police line. Police fired [[tear gas]] shells towards the gate to warn the students.<ref name="Banglapedia"/> A section of students ran into the [[Dhaka Medical College and Hospital|Dhaka Medical College]] while others rallied towards the university premises cordoned by the police. The vice-chancellor asked police to stop firing and ordered the students to leave the area. However, the police arrested several students for violating Section 144 as they attempted to leave. Enraged by the arrests, the students met around the [[East Bengal Legislative Assembly]] and blocked the legislators' way, asking them to present their insistence at the assembly. When a group of students sought to storm into the building, police opened fire and killed a number of students, including [[Abdus Salam (language martyr)|Abdus Salam]], [[Rafiq Uddin Ahmed]], [[Abul Barkat]] and [[Abdul Jabbar (activist)|Abdul Jabbar]].<ref name="Banglapedia"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Dhaka Medical College Hostel Prangone Chatro Shomabesher Upor Policer Guliborshon. Bishwabidyalayer Tinjon Chatroshoho Char Bekti Nihoto O Shotero Bekti Ahoto |language=bn |work=The Azad |date=21 February 1952}}</ref> As the news of the killings spread, disorder erupted across the city. Shops, offices and public transport were shut down and a general strike began.<ref name=UStudies>{{cite book |editor=James Heitzman |editor2=Robert Worden |url=http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/ |title=Bangladesh: A Country Study |access-date=16 June 2007 |chapter=Pakistan Period (1947–71) |chapter-url=http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/14.htm |publisher=Government Printing Office, Country Studies US |year=1989 |isbn=0-16-017720-0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622211513/http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/21.htm |archive-date=22 June 2011}}</ref> At the assembly, six legislators including [[Manoranjan Dhar]], Boshontokumar Das, Shamsuddin Ahmed and Dhirendranath Datta requested that chief minister [[Nurul Amin]] visit wounded students in hospital and that the assembly be adjourned as a sign of mourning.<ref name=bashir377393>{{cite book |last=Al Helal |first=Bashir |author-link=Bashir Al Helal |date=2003 |title=Bhasa Andolaner Itihas |trans-title=History of the Language Movement |language=bn |location=Dhaka |publisher=[[Agamee Prakashani]] |pages=377–393 |isbn=984-401-523-5}}</ref> This motion was supported by some of the treasury bench members including [[Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish]], Shorfuddin Ahmed, Shamsuddin Ahmed Khondokar and Mosihuddin Ahmed.<ref name=bashir377393/> However Nurul Amin refused the requests.<ref name="Banglapedia"/><ref name=bashir377393/>

However, the military government formed by [[Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)|Ayub Khan]] made attempts to re-establish Urdu as the sole national language. On 6 January 1959, the military regime issued an official statement and reinstated the official stance of supporting the 1956 constitution's policy of two state languages.<ref name="lambert">{{cite journal |last=Lambert |first=Richard D. |title=Factors in Bengali Regionalism in Pakistan |journal=Far Eastern Survey |volume=28 |issue=4 |date=April 1959 |issn=0362-8949 |pages=49–58 |doi=10.2307/3024111 |jstor=3024111}}</ref>

Although the question of official languages was settled by 1956, the military regime of Ayub Khan promoted the interests of West Pakistan at the expense of East Pakistan. Despite forming the majority of the national population, the East Pakistani population continued to be under-represented in the civil and military services, and received a minority of state funding and other government help. This was mainly due to lack of [[democracy|representative government]] in the fledgling state. Mainly due to regional economic imbalances sectional divisions grew, and support for the Bengali ethnic nationalist Awami League, which invoked the [[Six point movement|6-point movement]] for greater provincial autonomy. One demand was that East Pakistan be called ''Bangladesh'' (Land/Country of Bengal), which subsequently led to the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]].<ref name=JSToldenburg/>

To commemorate this movement, [[Shaheed Minar, Dhaka|Shaheed Minar]], a solemn and symbolic sculpture, was erected in the place of the massacre.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Following the formation of the provincial government by the [[United Front (East Pakistan)|United Front]] in April 1954, the anniversary of 21 February was declared a holiday.<ref name="Islam1994">{{cite book |last=Mamud |first=Hayat |editor-last=Islam |editor-first=Syed Manzoorul |editor-link=Syed Manzoorul Islam |chapter=This History of the Observance of Ekushey |title=Essays on Ekushey: The Language Movement 1952 |year=1994 |location=Dhaka |publisher=[[Bangla Academy]] |pages=78–79 |isbn=984-07-2968-3}}</ref> The day is revered in Bangladesh where it is a [[public holidays in Bangladesh|public holiday]] and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in [[West Bengal]] as the ''Martyrs' Day''.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

[[UNESCO]] decided to observe 21 February as [[International Mother Language Day]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsgram.com/commemorating-the-international-mother-language-day-february-21/ |title=Commemorating the International Mother Language Day- February 21 |date=21 February 2016 |website=NewsGram |language=en-US |access-date=6 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508093840/http://www.newsgram.com/commemorating-the-international-mother-language-day-february-21/ |archive-date=8 May 2016}}</ref> The UNESCO General Conference took the decision that took effect on 17 November 1999,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Language_Movement |title=Language Movement |website=Banglapedia |access-date=6 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307033428/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Language_Movement |archive-date=7 March 2016}}</ref> when it unanimously adopted a draft resolution submitted by Bangladesh and co-sponsored and supported by 28 other countries.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

[[Category:National days in Bangladesh]]

[[Category:Spring events in Bangladesh]]