Introduction
Within a few months of the founding of Pakistan in 1947, the language movement began. Initially it started with a cultural movement but gradually it turned into a political movement. It has affected not only the educated class but also the entire Bengali nation. At this stage not only language inequality, but also socio-economic, political and cultural inequality towards Bengalis. As a result, the language movement brought unity to the Bengali nation and made them aware of their rights.
Thus non-communal Bengali nationalism was created, new leadership was created, liberal outlook was introduced, and language movement through social change radically changed the Bengali nation. Later, the language movement inspired every movement of the Bengali nation. The experience gained by the Bengali nation through the language movement inspired the Bengali nation in the next independent struggle.
So it can be said that the development of Bengali nationalism was due to the language movement and the establishment of an independent sovereign Bangladesh on the world map.
Background
The state of Pakistan was formed in August 1947. There is a wide gap between East Pakistan and West Pakistan in all areas including language, history, heritage, culture, geographical environment, food habits. Despite all these problems, this unequal state was formed based on only religion by including East Pakistan (today's Bangladesh), with West Pakistan located at a distance of one thousand miles.
Although before the creation of Pakistan there was a discussion among all what will be the state language after the new state of Pakistan? According to Dr. Shahidullah, one of the leading linguists, If English is excluded as the state language after independence, it would be better for East Bengal, Bangla to be the state language of Pakistan.
The leaders of the state of Pakistan first tried to impose Urdu language on East Pakistan. Although East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) had Bangla as the spoken language of most people.
However, at the time of the establishment of the state of Pakistan in 1947, a statistic of the linguistic population of Pakistan shows that the new state of Pakistan has 54.60% Bangla, 26.04% Punjabi, 8.2% Urdu and the rest are other language speakers. These figures show that Urdu was ranked 3rd in terms of Pakistani speakers. On the other hand, out of the population of 4.4 crore in East Bengal, 4.1 crore were Bengali speakers. Very few people in East Pakistan spoke Urdu. In East Pakistan, 98% were Bengali and only 1% were Urdu speakers.
However, ignoring the Bengali language, the Pakistani ruling class took several plans to establish Urdu as the state language. But the Bengali nation became aware and reacted immediately against this attack on the mother tongue. The Bengali people took to the streets to retain their mother tongue Bangla for the conspiracy of the central leaders of Pakistan, which succeeded in 1952 through the second phase of the language movement. In 1956, Bangla was recognized as the state language.
Beginning of the LANGUAGE MOVEMENT
In August 1947, two states, India and Pakistan, emerged. When Pakistan gained independence, the question arose as to what would be the state language of Pakistan? Pakistan's central leaders claim that Urdu will be the state language of Pakistan. On the other hand, East Pakistan claims that Bangla will be the state language of Pakistan. But the central government of Pakistan completely ignored this demand of Bangla language. As a result, students and intellectuals in Dhaka, East Pakistan, became angry and made a demand for language. Bengali will be the medium of instruction and government affairs in East Pakistan and Bengali and Urdu will be the state languages of Pakistan at the central government level. Tamaddun Majlish was the first to organize this demand. It was led by Professor Abul Kashem. Gradually many non-sectarians and organizations joined this movement and at one time it turned into a mass movement. September 15 Tamaddun Majlish released a pamphlet entitled “Should Pakistan’s state language be Urdu or Bengali”? This pamphlet claims to be in Bengali medium of instruction, language of courts, official works in East Bengal as well as language of the Central Government.
Purpose and argument in favor of making Urdu the state language
The central leaders of Pakistan from the very beginning felt the need to make one language the state language in order to create unity among the people of multilingual states. Most of the influential people in Pakistan, from politicians to businessmen, were Urdu-speaking. From Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's top officials were Urdu-speaking, so Urdu seemed more acceptable to them. Even Nazimuddin, who held a high position in East Bengal, was an Urdu speaker. For all these reasons, they and the West Pakistani people chose this language to maintain their dominance everywhere, including political influence, economy. West Pakistanis have been practicing Urdu as their second language for a long time, so they easily adopted Urdu. As the central leaders and influential part of the Muslim League were West Pakistanis, they all adopted Urdu and they were in favor of Urdu being the state language of Pakistan. However, since East Bengal is not accustomed to the Urdu language, they do not want the Urdu language state of Pakistan. For this reason, East Pakistan claims Bengali as the state language of Pakistan instead of Urdu as the state language of Pakistan.
The spread of the language movement
In 1947 on September 15, after the publication of the tamaddun majlish pamphlet, the people of East Pakistan became aware of the need to make Bengali the state language of Pakistan. In 1947, the language movement began to spread among the middle class people of East Bengal. Subsequently, the Tamaddun Majlish formed the National Language Action Committee in October 1947. As a result, Tamaddun Majlish formed an organization structure. From the beginning of 1948, the educated people of the Bengali community have been in favor of the Bengali language. In the session of the Constituent Assembly in February 1948, Dhirendranath Dutt demanded the use of Bengali as one of the languages of the Constituent Assembly along with Urdu and English. But it was ignored by all the members and leaders of the Muslim League. Due to this incident the language movement started in East Bengal. The student community protested. In February 1947, a strike was observed in all educational institutions in Dhaka. On March 2, the students formed the National Language Action Committee for the second time in the presence of the country's intellectuals. Shamsul Alam was nominated as the convener of the council. The newly formed council called a strike on March 11.
Many were injured when they went on strike that day. Shamsul Huq, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Oli Ahad, Shawkat Ali and Kazi Golam Mahbub, among others, were arrested. Strikes were observed in all educational institutions in Dhaka to protest the incident. Protests took place on March 11 not only in Dhaka but everywhere outside Dhaka. In view of the intensity of the movement, on March 15, Chief Minister Nazimuddin agreed to release the arrested persons in an eight-point agreement. The main reason for his hasty execution of the agreement was that the forthcoming visit of the Governor General of Pakistan Jinnah to Dhaka should be completed smoothly. On March 19, Jinnah visited Dhaka, and on March 21, he gave a speech at the racecourse. March 24 Meeting with National Language Action Committee. At a convocation at Dhaka University, Jinnah spoke in favor of Urdu as the official language of Pakistan. The students immediately protested Jinnah's speech on March 24 and said "no no". After Jinnah's death in 1948, especially after March, although the language movement was delayed for some time, various movements were organized in the fields of economy, politics and culture. When Prime Minister Liaquat Khan Ali arrived in Dhaka on 18 November 1948, the student society staged a protest. And demanded recognition of Bangla as the state language. In his speech at Dhaka University, Liaquat Ali wisely declared Urdu to be the only state language. Then the students again protested with the sound of 'no' and 'no'.
The spread of the language movement 1949-1952
Every year since 1948, March 11 has been observed as a day of protest. In 1949, the government conspiracy to write Bangla in Arabic script began. Dhaka University protested against this Arabic script writing. In the end it was not implemented. Nazimuddin was appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1952, after which he declared Urdu as the state language of Pakistan on 27 January. In protest, the students went on strike on January 30 and did not accept Nazimuddin's speech. The all-party meeting on January 31 also criticized the government's policy. At this time a new National Language Action Committee was formed by convening Abdul Matin. After the formation of this council, the movement gained momentum. In protest of this statement of Nazimuddin, the Dhaka University National Language Action Committee formed an all party National Language Action Committee at a meeting on 30 January under the Maulana Bhasani. A strike was called in East Bengal on 21 February. Then the government issued section 144 to suppress the protests and the second and final phase of the language movement began.
The final stage of the language movement
Although Oli Ahad, Golam Maula, Abdul Matin and others were in favor of violating section 144, most of the members of the working council opposed the violation of section 144. Later it was decided to break section 144. After the meeting of the working council, Oli Ahad directed the other leaders and workers to gather at Dhaka University in a smooth manner. On the other hand, in the night of February 1952, separate meetings were held in different halls of Dhaka University. The decision to break section 144 was taken from almost all the halls in Dhaka university.
The night of 20th February 1952 passed with intense excitement and preparation of the students. Then everyone appeared on the morning of February 21st. That day was Thursday. Area police took control of the entire university in the morning. National Language Action Committee leaders had been staying in the university area since night. As per the instructions of the leaders, the meeting place turned into a sea of people as two people gathered. At that time Shamsul Alam gave his opinion not to break section 144. As per the instructions of the leaders, the meeting place became crowded. At that time Shamsul Alam gave his opinion not to break section 144. But under the leadership of Abdul Matin, the general student society took a stand in favor of violating section 144.
Here Gaziul Haque, Abdul Matin and others spoke strongly in favor of violating section 144. It was decided that each team would have 10 people and it would break out Section 144. Among the groups violating Section 144, a group of female students joined. According to the decision of the meeting, the first team was led by Habibur Rahman Shelley, a student of Dhaka University. Earlier in the day, some students were arrested for violating Section 144.
But after a while, the police fired tear gas. The students threw bricks in self-defense. A large number of students gathered near Dhaka Medical College in the police counter-attack. Police opened fire on the students in front of Dhaka Medical College. The shots were ordered by the district magistrate. Abul Barkat, Rafiq Uddin and Abdul Jabbar were killed on the spot. Abdus Salam was shot and died on 8 April 1952 at the Medical College.
After the news of the student's murder spread rapidly in the city, then the population came from all around and gathered in front of the Dhaka Medical College. The incident of 21 February had a profound effect on the public life of Dhaka. The shops were closed and the office court attendance was minimal. A memorial Shaheed Minar was erected on February 23 at the site where the students were shot dead. The place where the students were shot was the Dhaka Medical College Hostel Compound. In 1963, a concrete installation was erected on the site of this temporary construction site in honor of the martyrs. Later, the Constituent Assembly passed a bill recognizing Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan. Later, this movement was successful, Bangla was recognized as the state language under the 1956 constitution. Since 1952, the day has been celebrated on 21 February to commemorate the sacrifices made by the Bengalis for the mother tongue. In 1999 on November 17, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day. As a result, the international community held the language movement of Bangladesh in a dignified position. International Mother Language is now celebrated around the world on February 21 every year.
Conclusion
The language movement is a landmark and important event for Bangladesh. There were many reasons behind the language movement and it had a profound effect on later history. Due to the success of this movement, along with Urdu, Bangla also got the status of state language. This language movement was also the main motivation of all subsequent movements. For the language movement, the Bengali nation first took part in a direct struggle against the ruling class of Pakistan. Inspired by this movement, they were able to defeat every conspiracy of the Pakistani rulers. The teachings of this movement made them aware of democratic, non-communal, linguistic nationalism. This consciousness developed over the next decade, making it possible for a language-based state.