Bengali language movement

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The Bengali language movement (

Assembly member Dhirendranath Datta proposed legislation in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to allow members to speak in Bengali and authorise its use for official purposes.^[15] Datta's proposal was supported by legislators Prem Hari Burman, Bhupendra Kumar Datta and Sris Chandra Chattaopadhyaya of East Bengal, as well as the people from the region.^[15] 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.^[15][22]

Fazlur Rahman's proposal

Since the partition of the country in 1947, the Union Minister representing East Pakistan Fazlur Rahman campaigned for the implementation of Bengali language written in Arabic script (Bengali language with the "Hurful Qur'an"). At the Nikhil Pakistan Teachers' Conference held in Karachi on 29 December 1948, Fazlur Rahman proposed to write Bengali in Arabic script for the sake of Islamization of the language. East Bengal Provincial Education Department Secretary Fazle Ahmad Karim Fazli was one of the main initiators of the effort to introduce the Arabic alphabet in Bengal. Both Karim Fazli and Fazlur Rahman established a society called 'Hurful Qur'an Samity' with a Maulana named Zulfikar Ali of Chittagong and tried to form a movement to introduce Arabic letters in Bengal through him. Abdul Hakim, the former director of the East-Bengal Education Department said; "Some funny legends are heard in Dhaka about a Bengali Wazir Sahib's own knowledge of Urdu. He wanted to fulfill his ardent desire to beautify the in order to be admired by the all-powerful Urdu Mahal of the Centre. For this purpose, a sum of Rs. 35,000 per annum for the publication of books was arranged to hand over the central sanction to the aforesaid Provincial Education Secretary.”^[23] In response, Muhammad Shahidullah opposed the proposal, fearing further complications, and advocated making Bengali unchanged as the state language of East Bengal and one of the state languages of Pakistan.^[24]

Proposal for Romanisation of Bengali

During that time, romanisation of Bengali was also proposed along with other proposals regarding the determination of the state language of Pakistan.^[3][25] After 1947, many other East Pakistani academics, including Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda and Nazirul Islam Mohammad Sufian, supported the idea of writing Bengali in Roman script.^[25] In 1948, Mohammad Ferdous Khan opposed it in his pamphlet "The language problem of today".^[25]

Abul Fazl Muhammad Akhtar-ud-Din supported the Roman alphabet in his article entitled "Bangla Bornomalar Poribortton" (বাংলা বর্ণমালার পরিবর্ত্তন, Changes in the Bengali Alphabet) published in

The romanisation proposal continued on even after 1952. In 1957, the East Pakistan Education Commission recommended the use of the revised Roman script in adult education.[25]

Around 1957–1958, there was a significant demand for the use of Roman letters again. At that time

In the height of civic unrest, Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah arrived in Dhaka on 19 March 1948. On 21 March, at a civic reception at Racecourse Ground, he claimed that the language issue was designed by a "fifth column" to divide Pakistani Muslims.^[30][31] Jinnah further declared that "Urdu, and only Urdu" embodied the spirit of Muslim nations and would remain as the state language,^{[15][32][33][34]} labelling those who disagreed with his views as "Enemies of Pakistan". Jinnah delivered a similar speech at Curzon Hall of the University of Dhaka on 24 March.^[16] At both meetings, Jinnah was interrupted by large segments of the audience. He later called a meeting of a state language committee of action, and overruled the contract that was signed by Khawaja Nazimuddin with the student leaders.^[26] Before Jinnah left Dhaka on 28 March, he delivered a speech on radio reasserting his "Urdu-only" policy.^[35]

Proposal for Arabic language

Muhammad Shahidullah believed that Bengalis could learn Urdu at the same time as learning English, he also believed that: "When Arabic becomes the state language of Pakistan, the creation of the state of Pakistan will be justified."^[36] Therefore, in December 1949, he assumed the presidency of the East Pakistan Arabic Language Association, approved a draft memorandum to be submitted to the Assembly, where it was requested to government for Arabic to be made the state language of Pakistan and for the provision of 'Darse Koran' or Quran teaching in various centers and mosques of the city.^[37] On January 18, 1950, some students of Rajshahi College called a meeting to demand that Arabic be made the state language.^[37] 3 State Bank Governor Zahid Hussain proposed to make Arabic the state language and this proposal was then supported by Syed Akbar Shah, member of Sindh Legislative Council and Vice-Chancellor of Sindh Arabic University.^[37] On 1 February 1951 at the session of the World Muslim Conference in Karachi, the leader of the Ismaili community Aga Khan said, if Arabic is made the state language of Pakistan, common communication will be established between the Muslims of the Arab world, North Africa and Indonesia.^[37] On February 10, 1951, the Secretary of the Pakistan Buddhist League, Rabindranath Burmi, issued a statement opposing these proposals in favour of Urdu instead of Arabic as state language.^[37] These proposals to make Arabic the state language did not gain much support in any part of Pakistan.^[37] However, according to Badruddin Umar, as this demand was related to the question of development of Islamic culture, it indirectly supported the demand of the introduction of Arabic script in Bengali language to some extent in some groups.^[37]

Proposal by Language Committee

Shortly thereafter, the East Bengal Language Committee, presided by Maulana Akram Khan, was formed by the East Bengal government to prepare a report on the language problem.^[38]

At 1949, Language Committee of the East-Bengal Government conducted a survey among teachers, intellectuals, high civil servants, members of the Legislative Council, according to which, out of 301 respondents, 96 favoured the introduction of the Arabic script, 18 the Roman script and 187 gave opinion in favour of the retention of the Bengali script. Besides, many people did not give any answer.^[25]

The committee produced its report by 6 December 1950; but it was not published before 1958. Here an effective measure was proposed by the government to solve the language problem, where they recommended writing Bengali through Arabic characters.^{[full citation needed][39]}

Events of 1952

The Urdu-Bengali controversy was reignited when Jinnah's successor, governor-general

According to the earlier decision, students of Dhaka University and other educational institutions gathered at Dhaka University premises on February 4. The rally protested the proposal to write Bengali in Arabic script and demanded Bengali as the state language. The students took out a huge demonstration after their assembly.[41]

On February 11, 1952, a long circular (No. 10) titled 'Rashtra Bhashar Andolan' was promoted to the Secretariat of the Bengali Provincial Organizing Committee before the Communist Party of Pakistan'. In this circular, the Communist Party's statement, line, and organizational duties regarding the language movement are clearly indicated.^[42]

In accordance with the principles and lines of the State Language Movement laid down in Party Circular No. 10 of the East Bengal Organizing Committee of the

On the same day, the East Bengal Organizing Committee of the East Pakistan Communist Party circulated a cyclostyled manifesto entitled "To build a united East Bengal Tumdal United Movement against the barbaric killings of the tyrant Nurul Amin Sarkar", calling on all institutions and the multi-lingual public of Pakistan, regardless of party affiliation. Support is invited for the following demands:

• Leaving chair by Nazim Nurul Amin Sarkar
• Want to make Bengali one of the national languages immediately
• We want the punishment of the killer, we want a private commission of inquiry, we want full compensation for the dead and injured.
• Seek immediate release of all political prisoners,
• Demand withdrawal of Security Act, Section 144 and all repressive laws.^[49]

22 February

Disorder spread across the province as large processions ignored

Through the night of 23 February, students of Dhaka Medical College worked on the construction of a Shaheed Smritistombho, or Monument of Martyrs. Completed at dawn on 24 February, the monument had a handwritten note attached to it with the words "Shaheed Smritistombho".^[52] Inaugurated by the father of the slain activist Sofiur Rahman, the monument was destroyed on 26 February by police.^[53] On 25 February, industrial workers in the town of Narayanganj observed a general strike.^[54] A protest followed on 29 February whose participants faced severe police beating.^[55]

The government censored news reports and withheld exact casualty figures during the protests. Most pro-government media held Hindus and communists responsible for encouraging the disorder and student unrest.^[56] The families of Abul Barkat and Rafiq Uddin Ahmed tried to charge the police with murder, but the charges were dismissed by the police. On 8 April government report on the incidents failed to show any particular justification for police firings on the students.^[57]

Reaction in West Pakistan

Although the Language Movement is considered to have laid the foundations for ethnic nationalism in many of the Bengalis of East Bengal and later East Pakistan, it also heightened the cultural animosity between the authorities of the two wings of Pakistan.^[10][58][59] In the western wing of the Dominion of Pakistan, the movement was seen as a sectional uprising against Pakistani national interests.^[60] The rejection of the "Urdu-only" policy was seen as a contravention of the Perso-Arabic culture of Muslims and the founding ideology of Pakistan, the two-nation theory.^[10] Some of the most powerful politicians from the western wing of Pakistan considered Urdu a product of Indian Islamic culture, but saw Bengali as a part of "Hinduized" Bengali culture.^[16] Most stood by the "Urdu only" policy because they believed that only a single language, one that was not indigenous to Pakistan, should serve as the national language. This kind of thinking also provoked considerable opposition in the western wing, wherein there existed several linguistic groups.^[16] As late as in 1967, military dictator Ayub Khan said, "East Bengal is ... still under considerable Hindu culture and influence."^[16]

Aftermath

The Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod, with support from the

Following the return of the United Front to power, the anniversary on 21 February 1956 was observed for the first time in a peaceful atmosphere. The Government supported a major project to construct a new Shaheed Minar. The session of the constituent assembly was stopped for five minutes to express condolence for the students slain in the police shootings. Major rallies were organised by Bengali leaders and all public offices and businesses remained closed.[65]^[66]

Constitutional status as a state language

With the defeat of the Muslim League in the East Bengal assembly elections, the central government became flexible in recognising Bengali as the state language of Pakistan along with Urdu. At least a few thousand people protested in the National Assembly on April 22 against the decision.^[67]

On 7 May 1954, the constituent assembly resolved, with the Muslim League's support, to grant official status to Bengali.^[63] Bengali was adopted as an official language of Pakistan along with Urdu in the article 214(1) when the first constitution of Pakistan was enacted on 29 February 1956.^[65] Mohammad Ali Bogra raised the language related clauses of the constitution in Parliament. According to the clauses, Bengali language was given equal recognition as state language like Urdu. In Parliament and the Legislative Assembly, besides Urdu and English, there was an opportunity to speak in Bengali. The constitution also provided opportunities for higher education in Bengali.^[68]

However, the military government formed by

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. Due to regional economic, social, and political imbalances, sectional divisions grew,^[71] and the Bengali ethnic nationalist Awami League invoked the 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.^[10][16]

Cultural impact and celebration

Bangladesh

The Language Movement had a major cultural impact on Bengali society. It has inspired the development and celebration of the Bengali language, literature and culture. 21 February, celebrated as

Two years after the first monument was destroyed by the police, a new Shaheed Minar (Monument of Martyrs) was constructed in 1954 to commemorate the protesters who died. Work on a larger monument designed by the architect Hamidur Rahman began in 1957 with the support of the United Front ministry, and was approved by a planning committee chaired by University of Dhaka Vice-Chancellor Mahmud Husain and College of Fine Arts principal Zainul Abedin.^[75] Hamidur Rahman's model consisted of a large complex in the yard of the Dhaka Medical College Hostel. The design included a half-circular column symbolising a mother with her martyred sons standing at the dais in the centre of the monument. Although the imposition of martial law in 1958 interrupted the work, the monument was completed and inaugurated on 21 February 1963 by Abul Barkat's mother, Hasina Begum. Pakistani forces demolished the monument during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, but the Bangladeshi government reconstructed it in 1973.^[76] Ekushey Television, one of the oldest privately owned television channels in Bangladesh, was named after the date of the event.^[77]

India

The states of West Bengal and Tripura in India celebrate 21 February as Language Movement Day.^[78][79]

Worldwide: International Mother Language Day

Bangladesh officially sent a proposal to UNESCO to declare 21 February as International Mother Language Day. The proposal was supported unanimously at the 30th General Conference of UNESCO held on 17 November 1999.^[80]

See also

• Bengali language activists
• Bengali Language Movement (Barak Valley)
• Bengali Language Movement (Manbhum)

References

• ISBN 984-401-523-5
  .
• Umar, Badruddin (1979). Purbo-Banglar Bhasha Andolon O Totkalin Rajniti পূর্ব বাংলার ভাষা আন্দোলন ও তৎকালীন রজনীতি (in Bengali). Dhaka: Agamee Prakashani.
• Umar, Badruddin (2004). The Emergence of Bangladesh: Class Struggles in East Pakistan (1947–1958). Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 0-19-579571-7
  .
• Uddin, Sufia M. (2006). Constructing Bangladesh: Religion, Ethnicity, and Language in an Islamic Nation. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
  ISBN 0-8078-3021-6
  .