Language Movement occupies a most
glorious chapter in the history of Bangladesh. Although the Movement
reached its climax in February 1952, when police fired on the crowds of
language activists at Dhaka, the Movement began in September 1947, within
one month after the emergence of Pakistan as an independent state. The
importance of the Movement lies in the fact that it was this Language
Movement which provided socio-politico-psychological basis on which
subsequent movement for regional autonomy grew in the then East Pakistan
leading ultimately to the emergence of the separate sovereign nationhood
of Bangladesh in 1971.
Historical background: No big event ever takes place
overnight. This is also true of the historic Language Movement of
Bangladesh. Although the Language Movement was formally launched in 1947,
after the emergence of Pakistan as an independent state, the seeds of the
Language Movement lay deep in the socio-political conditions through which
Bengali language grew and developed over the years and centruries.
Bengali language originated in the seventh century in
the family of Indo-Aryan language through a long evolutionary process. But
the distinct form of Bengali language was yet to crystallise. According to
scholars, the earliest foms of Bengali language have to be traced in the
Buddhist mystic songs known as "Buddha Gan o Doha'. It was the
Buddhist mystics who are to be credited for composing the earliest verses
of Bengali, the language of the masses, for preaching their religious
ideas. During the Buddhist Pala dynasty Bengali language, which was in its
infancy, enjoyed royal patronage and made a good beginning.
Bengali language during its earliest days faced sudden
setback when in the eleventh century the orthodox Brahmanic Senas coming
from the Deccan, toppled the Pala dynasty and established the Sena rule in
Bengal. The Senas introduced discriminating caste system in the society
and made Sanskrit the state language of the country. Use of Bengali
language was discouraged not only at the official level but also in
religious discourses. Encouraged by the instance of the ruling elites, the
Brahmanic pundits went so far as to issue religious injunctions declaring
the use of the language of the masses (Bengali Language) as a sin
deserving exemplary punishment. One such injunctions pronounced through a
sanskrit verse read as follows: "Astadash Puran mani Ramasyas
charitanicho/Bhashayang Manabang Srutta Rouravang Narakang Brajet."
(Those who will listen Astadash Purana and Ramayana in man-made Bengali
language shall go to Rourava hell).
It was in this socio-political backdrop that
Iftikharuddin Mohammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji conquered Bengal in 1203 AD.
Establishment of Muslim rule in Bengal not only brought about a
revolutionary change in the then caste-ridden society of Bengal, but also
opened a golden chapter in the history of the growth of Bengali language
and literature. Although during the six hundred years of Muslim rule
Persian had been the official language, pursuit of Bengali language and
literature received liberal patronage and encouragement from the Muslim
rulers. The new rulers did not discriminate between books, Islamic and
non-Islamic, for the purpose of bestowing their patronage on. It was no
wonder, therefore, that books from not only Arabic and Persian, but also
Sanskrit origin were translated into Bengali with royal patronage.
Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen rightly asserted: "Hira
kailar khanir madhye thakiya jemon Johurir agomoner pratikha kare, shuktir
bhitar mukta lukaiya thakiya jerup duburir apekha kariya thakey, Bangla
bhasha temoni kono shuvodin, shuvokhoner janya pratikha karitechilo.
Muslim bijoy Bangla bijoy Bangla bhashar shei shuvodin, shuvokhaner shujog
anoyan karilo." (Just as diamond remaining within the coalmine awaits
a lapidary, as pearl remaining hidden in the oyster longs for the coming
of a diver, Bengali language had been in wait for an august hour, an
opportune moment. Muslim conquest brought for the Bengali language that
august time, an opportune moment." [Vide, Bangla Bhashar Upor
Musalmaner Probhab" by Sree Dinesh Chandra Sen].
It is thus seen that although Bengali language had its
birth during the Buddhist era, it was left for the Muslim rulers to
nurture it in its infancy and adolescence, against heavy social odds.
It was quite natural that the Bengali language used by
the people, including the poets of the time, used a large number of words
derived from Arabic and Persian, the two languages that greatly influenced
the religious and cultural life of the Muslims. Despite all these facts
some Muslim poets of the medieval age felt that they owed an explanation
for writing books on religious themes in a language other than Arabic, the
language of the Holy Quran. They did not have a similar attitude towards
Persian language possibly because it was written in Arabic script.
This apologetic attitude further deepened when during
the decadent days of the Moghuls, Muslim elites of northern India
developed Urdu as a separate language combining spoken Hindi with Arabic
script.
The tragedy of Plassey in 1757 AD, in which the last
sovereign ruler of Bengal Nawab Sirajuddowla was defeated, virtually
signified the beginning of British rule in the subcontinent. The years
that followed witnessed deliberate attempts by the new rulers to subdue
the educated and well-to-do classes of Muslims not only politically, but
also culturally and economically. The new rulers established Fort William
College wherein attempts were made, with the help of Brahmin scholars, to
forge a form of Sanskritised Bengali flushing out all Bengali words of
day-to-day use in the Muslim society coming from Arabic and Persian
origin.
Most Muslim poets and litterateurs, shocked at this,
kept themselves away from the government-patronised institutions of
education and culture and devoted themselves to the pursuit of old forms
of literature better known as Punthi.
This was why Muslim contribution to standard Bengali
literature between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries was
very poor. Distressed at the partisan spirit of the British rulers towards
the language spoken by the Muslims in their day-to-day life, many Muslims
developed an apathy towards Bengali language and started feeling that Urdu,
and not Bengali, was their own language. During the British rule, two
great centres of Muslim education were established, one by the puritans at
Deoband, and the other by the modernists at Aligarh. Both these
institutions were situated in the Urdu-speaking belt and were run by
protagonists of Urdu. This had greatly influenced the educated sections of
Muslims, both orthodox and modern.
The Muslim writers of Bengal, however, soon realised
their mistake and as a result in the second half of the nineteenth century
a large number of Muslim poets and litterateurs were seen making literary
pursuits in their mother tongue Bengali in all seriousness. Among the
pioneering Muslim litterateurs were Meer Mosharraf Hossain, Shaikh Abdur
Rahim, Mozammel Huq and Kaikobad. They were followed by a host of others
like Shaikh Habibur Rahman Sahityaratna, Syed Ismail Hossain Siraji, Sk.
Fazlul Karim, Syed Emdad Ali, Maulana Maniruzzaman Islamabadi, Mohammad
Barkatulalh, Dr Muhammad Shahidullah, Maulana Akram Khan, Qazi Emdadul Huq,
Dr. Lutfar Rahman, Mohammad Yaqub Ali Chowdhury, Shahadat Hossain, Golam
Mostafa, Jasimuddin, S. Wazed Ali, Mohammad Wazed Ali and on the top of
all Qazi Nazrul Islam who revolutionised the course of Bengali literature
both in form and spirit.
Immediate Background: In the all India cultural parlour,
Hindu-Urdu rivalry played a vital role in creating the immediate
background of the Language Movement. While Hindus tried to uphold the
cause of Hindi, Muslims stood for Urdu. This conflict became poignant as
the demand for self-rule grew stronger. Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury, one of
the founders of Dhaka University, was of the opinion that whatever was the
official language and medium of instruction in other provinces, in Bengal
it must be Bengali, and no other language. During the second decade of the
twentieth century, Mahatma Gandhi in a letter to Rabindranath Tagore posed
the question as to which language should be ''lingua franca" when
India attained self-rule. Rabindranath replied, "The only possible
national language for inter-provincial intercourse is Hindi in
India." [Vide-'Rabindra Barshapanji" Probhat Mukhopadhya,
Calcutta, 1968. P 78]. Eminent linguistic scholar Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah,
however, felt that Bengali, Urdu and Hindi, all the three languages had
the potentialities of becoming the lingua franca of India. [Vide, 'Moslem
Bharat', Calcutta. Ist year, Ist part, Baishakh 1327 BS., 1720 AD].
Although the Pakistan Movement was fought on the basis
of the historic Lahore Resolution of 1940, which envisaged creation of
more than one state in the Muslim-majority areas of north-western and
eastern India, the Muslim League legislators elected in the 1946 general
elections, meeting in a convention in Delhi in April 1946, decided to
create one Pakistan state comprising the said Muslim-majority areas. This
altered the whole situation.
In the sovereign state, contemplated for the eastern
zone in the Lahore Resolution, Bengali was obviously to be the state
language. The two cultural organisations, "Purba Pakistan Renaissance
Society" (Calcutta) and 'Purba Pakistan Sahitya Sansad' (Dhaka),
which led the Pakistan Movement in Bengal and Assam in the cultural arena,
always expressed their over-confidence that Bengali was going to be the
official language of their new independent state, in their meetings,
conferences and seminaries. They deliberated on how to make the best use
of their mother tongue in revitalising their cultural heritage and other
aspects of sovereign nationhood.
There were, however, a microscopic few who preferred
Urdu to Bengali as official language and medium of instruction in the
future state-structure of East Pakistan. The writers attached to the two
above-mentioned cultural organisations had always scathing and merciless
criticisms against them. The satirical sonnet entitled "Urdu banam
Bangla Bhasha" by Poet Farrukh Ahmad, published in monthly "Mohammadi"
in the Jaistha issue of 1352 BS and the essay entitled 'Pakistan:
Rastrabhasha O Sahitya' by the same poet published in monthly 'Saugat' in
the 'Aswin' issue of 1354 B.S. may be referred to in this regard as
examples.
In July 1947 Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of the
Aligarh Muslim University put forward a proposal pleading to make Urdu the
only state language of Pakistan as Hindi was going to be the only state
language of India. This was promptly protested by Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah,
who analysed the issue elaborately in an essay entitled "Pakistaner
Bhasha Samasya", published in the Daily Azad on 29 July, 1947. The
controversy regarding state language thus went on and the new state of
Pakistan came into existence of 14 August 1947 before any concrete
decision was made on state language issue.
A formal decision on state language was yet to be made,
but a section on influential non-Bengalee bureaucrats behaved in such a
way as if Urdu had already been made the sole state language of the new
nation. Post cards, postal envelopes, money order forms were issued in
only English and Urdu languages. The members of the intelligentsia of East
Bengal grew suspicious about the motive of the government. Sporadic
comments were being made here and there by a section of educated people
against this fishy attitude of the government. But there was no organised
move to make concerted efforts to make Bengali the state language of the
country until a new born cultural organisation took up the issue in right
earnest. This organisation was Tamaddun Majlis. To quote a former
ambassador-cum-author Kamruddin Ahmad, "Some young Islamists founded
Tamaddun Majlis, a cultural organisation....Tamaddun Majlis sponsored the
movement for making Bengali the medium of instruction and the official
language in East Bengal" [Vide-'A Socio-political History of Bengal
and the Birth of Bangladesh' by Kamruddin Ahmad, Dhaka, 4th edition, 1975,
P. 98].
Tamaddun Majlis was founded by Prof Abul Quasem, a
teacher, Dept. of Physics, Dhaka University, along with some other
teachers and students of Dhaka University on 1 September, 1947. This
organisation published a booklet entitled 'Pakistaner Rastrabhasha-Bangla
Na Urdu?' (State Language of Pakistan-Bengali or Urdu?) on 15 September,
1947. The booklet contained three articles contributed by Prof Qazi
Motahar Hossain, an eminent litterateur and Professor of Dhaka University,
Abul Mansur Ahmad, politician, litterateur and Editor, Daily Ittehad,
Calcutta, and Prof Abul Quasem, the founder of Tamaddun Majlis.
Prof Qazi Motahar Hossain in his article entitled 'Rastra
Bhasha O Purba Pakistaner Bhasha Samasya,' (State language and the
language problem of East Pakistan), while trying to remove apathy towards
Bengali from the minds of some people, pointed out that it was the Muslim
rulers who gave liberal patronage to develop Bengali language and asserted
that Bengali was very much a language of the Muslims too. Abul Mansur
Ahmad in his article entitled 'Bangla Bhashai Hoibe Amader Rastra Bhasha'
(Bengali must be made our state language) dealt mainly on the economic
importance of the Language Movement. He cautioned that if Urdu was made
the only state language of Pakistan, the educated people of East Pakistan
would turn 'uneducated" overnight.
In the opening article of the booklet entitled 'Amader
Prastab' (our proposal), Prof. Abul Quasem put forward the basic demands
of the Language Movement in most concrete terms. In his article, he
asserted that-
1. Bengali has to be the medium of instruction and the
language of the offices and courts in East Pakistan.
2. Bengali and Urdu have to be made the state languages
of the central government of Pakistan.
He further urged upon all people to hold meetings in
various parts of the country and in different educational institutions
protesting against the move to impose any language other than the mother
language and send resolutions passed in these meetings to Governor General
Quaide Azam and other leaders. He appealed to people of various areas of
the country to send delegations to different members of the Constituent
Assembly urging them to support the cause of Bengali. He also called upon
all people to join the Movement and make it strong and invincible.
The booklet not only provided the people with the
rationale for the Language Movement, but also showed the way they had to
proceed to create a vigorous movement to make Bengali, the state language.
Publication of the booklet was followed by holding of meetings in Dhaka
and other parts of East Pakistan in support of Bengali as a state
language. Prof Abul Quasem himself organised series of group sittings and
discussion meetings in various educational institutions of Dhaka. A
memorandum, with signatures from cross-section of people including
educationists, artists, litterateurs, journalists, lawyers, intellectuals
and politicians was submitted to the government in support of the demand
to make Bengali a state language of Pakistan.
Events of 1947: Although in most cases the initiative
was taken by Prof Abul Quasem, there were others too who extended
spontaneous support and cooperation. Among them were some young teachers
and students and the political elements belonging to the Suhrawardy-Abul
Hashim group of the former Bengal Provincial Muslim League, who had by
then organised themselves into two short-lived organisations-Purba
Pakistan Ganatantrik Jubo League and Gana Azadi League. Since the greater
part of Sylhet formerly belonging to the Province of Assam, joined the
Province of East Bengal thorough a referendum, many political and cultural
personalities of former Assam also played a vital role in the Language
Movement.
Activities centering round the demand to make Bengali a
state language, started in full swing in 1947. The first Committee of
Action was formed in the same year with Prof. Nurul Huq Bhuiyan, a
teacher, Dept. of Chemistry, Dhaka University and a member of Tamaddun
Majlis as convenor, to advance the cause of the Movement.
On 12 November 1947, Tamaddun Majlis organised a
discussion meeting at the Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall auditorium in support of
Bengali language. Presided over by Habibullah Bahar, the meeting was
addressed, among others, by Syed Mohammad Afzal, Poet Jasimuddin, Dr.
Muhammad Enamul Huq, Abul Hasnat etc. [Vide, Daily Azad, Calcutta, 13
November 1947]. Prior to this on 5 November 1947 Purba Pakistan Sahitya
Sangsad arranged a reception to famous artist Zainul Abedin. Presided over
by Prof. Qazi Motahar Hossain the function was addressed by Messrs. Abul
Kalam Shamsuddin, Prof. M. A. Quasem, Prof. M. Mansuruddin, Syed Ali Ahsan,
Sardar Fazlul Karim, Abul Hasnat etc. The meeting passed two resolutions
demanding the establishment of an Art College under the leadership of
Zainul Abedin and adoption of Bengali as the State Language of East
Pakistan. [Vide, the Daily Azad, Calcutta, 8 November, 1947].
It may be mentioned here that there were many who did
not distinguish carefully between 'the official language of East Pakistan;
and 'the state Language of Pakistan' and often mixed up the two. This
anomaly arose since there was an attempt to impose Urdu on East Pakistan
too. This was evident from the memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister
of East Bengal on 17 November 1947, demanding adoption of BeIagali as 'the
State Language of East Pakistan." The memorandum in question was
signed by hundreds of citizens including Maulana Akram Khan, Maulana
Abdullahil Baqi, Prof. Abul Quasem, Abdul Karim Sahityabisharad, Poet
Jasimuddin, Abul Kalam Shamsuddin, Begum Shamsunnahar Mahmud, Principal
Ibrahim Khan, Artist Zainul Abedin, Prof M. Mansuruddin, Abul Hasnat,
Prof. Qazi Motahar Hossain, Dr. S.M. Hossain, Abul Mansur Ahmad, Prof.
Atul Sen, Mrs Anwara Chowdhury, Maulana Mustafizur Rahman, Dr. S.R.
Khastgir, Abbasuddin Ahmad, Prof. Ganesh Basu, Mohammad Modabber, Shah
Azizur Rahman, Syed Waliullah, Shaukat Osman, Abu Rushd, Syed Ali Ahsan,
Poet Ahsan Habib, Kazi Afsaruddin Ahmad, Abu Jafar Shamsuddin, Jahur
Hossain Chowdhury etc. [Vide, Daily Azad, Calcutta, 18 November 19471.
On 27 November l947, at the Pakistan Education
Conference held in Karachi, Education Minister Fazlur Rahman suggested
that Urdu should be made the state language of Pakistan. [Vide, Daily Azad,
30 November 1947]. A protest meeting of the students of different
educational institutions was held against this at the Dhaka University
campus on 6 December l947 with Prof. Abul Quasem in the chair. Among
others Farid Ahmed, Vice President, Dhaka University Students Union,
Munier Chowdhury, Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, A. K. M. Ahsan etc. spoke in the
meeting. Resolutions moved by Farid Ahmad demanding Bengali as one of the
state languages of Pakistan and the official language and medium of
instruction of East Pakistan and condemning the anti-Bengali role of Daily
'Morning News' were unanimously adopted in the meeting. The meeting was
followed by a large procession demanding official status of Bengali. The
proccssionists met various ministers including Syed Mohammad Afzal, Nurul
Amin and Hamidul Huq Chowdhury all of whom gave assurance to support the
cause of Bengali.
On 12 December 1947, a group of Urdu-supporting people
of old Dhaka attacked Bengali-supporters of the Engineering and Medical
College area chanting pro-Urdu slogans. When they reached the Palashi
Barrack area, they were resisted by Bengali- supporters. Some twenty to
thirty people received injuries as a result of the encounter. Students
along with some other people of the area brought out a procession against
the incident, met some ministers and forced them to give written
undertaking that they would support the cause of Bengali language. The
press note that was issued by the government on 12 December incident gave
a concocted account and blamed three Calcutta dailies, the Ananda Bazar,
the Ittehad and the Swadhinata, for the incident and banned their entry
into East Bengal for 15 days with effect from 15 December 1947.
It is interesting to note here that an admixture of
Bengali and Urdu had been in popular use in old Dhaka during that time.
Many people in old Dhaka did not favour the idea of making Bengali a state
language. In order to create public opinion in favour of Bengali in old
Dhaka, Prof M A Quasem formed an organisation named 'Dhaka Majlis' with SM
Taifur and Abdul Mannan as President and Convenor respectively.
During the last part of 1947, Mr Goodwin, the Secretary
of the Central Public Service Commission of Pakistan, issued on 15
November 1947, a circular concerning the examination of superior civil
service. The number of subjects for the examination was thirty one
including nine languages like Urdu, Hindi, English, German, French, even
dead languages like Sanskrit and Latin, but not Bengali, the language of
the majority people of Pakistan. Prof. Abdul Qusem issued a press
statement against this. The Daily Ittehad published the statement in its
31 December 1947 issue along with a strongly worded editorial entitled 'Abishashya'
(unbelievable) against this audacity. When this issue of Daily 'Ittehad'
reached Dhaka, it created new enthusiasm among the language activists.
Events of 1948: On 4 January 1948, student workers of
the Suhrawardy-Hashim group of the former Bengal Muslim League, in a
meeting formed a separate student organisation named 'East Pakistan Muslim
Students League' outside the 'All East Pakistan Muslim Students League'
led by Shah Azizur Rahman. Naimuddin Ahmad, was elected convenor of the
new organisation while Messrs. Aziz Ahmad (Noakhali), Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman (Faridpur), Oli Ahad (Comilla), Abdur Rahman Chowdhury (Barisal),
Dabirul Islam (Dinajpur), Abdul Matin (Pabna), Mafizur Rahman (Rangpur),
Sk. Abdul Aziz (Khulna), Nawab Ali (Dhaka), Nurul Kabir (Dhaka city).
Abdul Aziz (Kushtia), Syed Nurul Alam (Mymensingh) and Abdul Quddus
Chowdhury (Chittagong) were elected members of the organising committee.
The formation of East Pakistan Muslim Students League was an important
event in the history of the Language Movement as it constantly supported
the cause of Bengali Language. On 25 February 1948, Dhirendra Nath Dutta
moved a resolution in the Constituent Assembly, to allow speeches in
Bengali side by side with English and Urdu. It was rejected. Students of
Dhaka observed strike on 26 February as a protest. They paraded through
different streets of the city in a procession and gathered in a protest
meeting at the Dhaka University campus. The meeting, which was presided
over by Prof Abul Quasem, was addressed among others by Naimuddin Ahmad
and Mohammad Toaha. This was followed by a meeting held on 27 February
1948 at the Tamaddun Majlis office at the Rashid Building. The meeting
chaired by Prof MA Quasem reconstituted the State Language Committee of
Action with representatives from Tamaddun Majlis and East Pakistan Muslim
Students League, Mr Shamsul Alam, a resident student of Salimullah Muslim
Hall and a common member of both Tamaddun Majlis and East Pakistan Muslim
Students League, was made the convenor. It was decided in the meeting to
observe Protest Day all over East Pakistan on 11 March through strike,
meetings and processions. Later on the Committee was further expanded
through co-option of representatives from various other organisations in a
meeting of the Committee held on 2 March 1948, at the Fazlul Huq Muslim
Hall.
First Uprising: 11 March 1948: In order to make the 11
March programme a success Prof. MA Quasem, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
Naimuddin Ahmed and Abdur Rahman Chowdhury issued a press statement at
Dhaka on 1 March 1948. [ Vide- The Daily Azad 2 March 19481].
Another press statement issued by Messrs. Shamsul Alam,
Prof MA Quasem, Naimuddin Ahmad, Tafazzal Ali MLA., Mrs Anwara Khatun MLA,
Ali Ahmad Khan MLA, Kamruddin Ahmad, Shamsul Huq, A. Salam, SM Bazlul Huq,
Syed Nazrul Islam, Mohammad Toaha, Oli Ahad and Abdul Wahed Chowdhury on 3
March 1948, published in the Daily Amritabazar Parika, Calcutta, read as
follows: "For some time past considerable agitation is going on to
make Bengali (i) as the official language of East Pakistan, (ii) as one of
the state languages of the central Pakistan, and (iii) as one of languages
of Pakistan Consembly. Bengali is the mother tongue of the two third
population of the whole of Pakistan. It is a matter of shame that
agitation has become necessary to establish this language in the life of
the state...To record a protest against these, the East Pakistan Muslim
Students League and Tamaddun Majlis have declared a general strike on
Thursday, March 11. We appeal to all political, cultural and educational
institutions and all students and citizens irrespective of caste and creed
of East Pakistan to observe this strike according to the programme of the
Joint State Language Subcommittee peacefully and with discipline."
[Vide 'Jatiya Rajniti' by Oli Ahad, Khoshroj Kitab Mahal, Dhaka. 3rd
edition, March 1997. P. 40-41].
The 11 March programme was a great success. Complete
strike was observed in all educational institutions. Picketters had been
active at different gates of the Secretariat since early morning. Among
those who participated in picketting at the Secretariat gates were Shamsul
Huq, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Oli Ahad, Kazi Golam Mahbub, Shaukat Ali etc.
They all were arrested. Those who picketed in front of the High Court,
were subjected to lathicharge by the Police. The lawyers in protest
abstained from attending the Court for the day. About 14 picketters were
arrested from the gate of the Ramna Post Office. Many others including
Prof MA Quasem and Mohammad Toaha were injured during police action. Mr
Golam Azam along with 10/12 students were arrested by police from the
Ramna T&T office area. They were taken to Tejgaon thana and were kept
detained there till evening.
On 11 March, 1948, workers and employees had played an
important role. During that time Tamaddun Majlis had friendly relation
with the workers and employees unions of rail, post and telecommunication
sectors. Due to active resistance put up by East Pakistan Railway
Employees League (EPREL) under the leadership of Messrs. Mahbubul Huq, MS
Huq and MA Hai etc, very few trains could take start from Chittagong for
Dhaka.
The news of police action on picketters at Dhaka spread
fast in and around the city of Dhaka. As a result spontaneous protest
processions started pouring into the area around the Secretariat. At about
2-30 PM a large protest meeting was held at the University campus with
Naimuddin Ahmad in the chair. At the end of the meeting, a big procession
rushed towards the Secretariat to protest against police atrocities. The
whole Secretariat area was soon turned into a sea of processionists many
of whom forced into the Secretariat breaking police cordon. Police action
against them only brought more protest marches of the angry people. This
situation continued for days on till 15 March when the Government was
obliged to sign a pact with the Committee of Action accepting all their
demands. As the arrested leaders were released on 15 March as per
conditions of the pact, the situation gradually cooled down.
Jinnah's visit: On 19 March 1948 Mr. Mohammad Ali
Jinnah came to Dhaka on his first ever visit to East Pakistan after the
emergence of Pakistan. On 21 March 1948, he addressed a huge public
meeting at the Ramna Race Course ground. In course of his speech he
declared that Urdu, and no other language, shall be the state language of
Pakistan. In his address to the special convocation of the Dhaka
University held on 24 March 1948, he repeated it once again. He further
said, those who were opposing Urdu as the only state language were the
enemies of the state. Students were stunned at these utterances of Mr.
Jinnah. Some of them shouted, 'no no' to record their protest. This too,
was a 'new experience' for Mr. Jinnah. Later on he met representatives of
the Committee of Action. But the talks failed as both sides did stick to
their pervious positions. The situation was quite embarrassing for the
language activists, as in spite of their best efforts it was not possible
immediately to rejuvenate the Movement due primarily to the mass
popularity of Mr. Jinnah at the time [Vide 'Jatiya Rajniti' Oli Ahad, 3rd
edition 1997, P 52].
From 1948 to 1951: During that time the language
activities had no mouth-piece of their own. There were two weeklies, Insan
and Insaf, edited by Abdul Wahed Chowdhury, supporting the Language
Movement. Both these were irregular and short-lived. Prof, Abul Quasem of
Tamaddun Majlis took up the matter in right earnest. He along with some
other supporters of the Movement brought out the Weekly Sainik (Fighter)
on 14 November 1948. The Sainik was edited by prominent short story writer
Shahed Ali. Among others who volunteered to work on the staff were Enamul
Huq, Sanaullah Noori, Abdul Ghafur and Mostafa Kamal. The office of the
weekly Sainik was situated first at 48, Captain Bazar, but soon it was
shifted to the residence of Prof. Abul Quasem at 19, Azimpur, Dhaka, which
as the office of both Tamaddun Majlis and the Weekly Sainik, soon turned
into the nerve-centre of all socio-cultural activities including the
Language Movement.
After the death of Jinnah on 11 September 1948, Khwaja
Nazimuddin was made the Governor General of Pakistan. But he was the
titular head with real powers of the Government shifting into the hand of
Prime Minister Nawabzada Liaqat Ali Khan. Liaqat Ali visited Dhaka during
the closing days of 1948. He was accorded a reception on behalf of the
DUCSU. DUCSU Secretary Golam Azam read out the Address of Welcome which
included demands of provincial autonomy and Bengali as a state language of
Pakistan. Liaqat Ali in his address condemned the demand for provincial
autonomy as provincialism but kept silent on the state language issue.
On 23 June, 1949, the first ever opposition political
party of Pakistan was floated at the East Pakistan Muslim League Workers
Convention held at the Rose Garden, Dhaka. The party was named East
Pakistan Awami Muslim League. Former President of the Assam Provincial
Muslim League Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, Mr. Shamsul Huq, Sk.
Mujibur Rahman and Khandakar Moshtaq Ahmad, were elected President,
General Secretary, Joint Secretary and Asstt. Secretary respectively. The
organisation adopted a draft manifesto in support of Islamic order,
provincial autonomy and Bengali as a state language of Pakistan.
Although Jinnah's visit to East Pakistan in March 1949
proved to be setback for the Language Movement at the moment, its fire
continued to burn in the hearts of the people. Since 1949 every year 'Rastra
Bhasha Dibas' was regularly observed on 11 March to remind the people that
their goals were yet to be achieved. The year 1949 witnessed a new
conspiracy against Bengali language. It was the move to change the script
of Bengali language into Arabic one. Storms of protest raged against this
new conspiracy throughout the country. Tamaddun Majlis organised a protest
meeting at the Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall auditorium. Abdul Ghafur read out an
article entitled, "Bangla Harafer Upor Kono Shaytani Hamla Bardast
Kara Haibe Na" in the meeting. This article along with an editorial
named 'Sankriti Hatyar Sharajantra' (Conspiracy to slaughter culture) was
published in 9 December 1949 issue of the Weekly Sainik.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaqat Ali Khan submitted on
28 September 1950, an interim report on the Basic Principles of the
Constitution in the Constituent Assembly. The report, among other things,
recommended Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan.
A Grand National Convention was held against this on 4
and 5 November 1950 in the Dhaka District Bar Library Hall.
Representatives of all political and cultural organisations supporting
Bengali as a state language and regional autonomy including Tamaddun
Majlis, East Pakistan Muslim Students League and Awami Muslim League
attended the Convention. The Convention adopted alternative basic
principles recommending regional autonomy in the spirit of the Lahore
Resolution and Bengali and Urdu as the two state languages of Pakistan.
The year 1951 witnessed the formation of yet another
organisation supporting the cause of Bengali as a state language. It was
the Purba Pakistan Jubo League, founded at a Youth Conference held at
Dhaka on 27 and 28 March 1951. Former General Secretary of Assam
Provincial Muslim League Mahmud Ali and Ali Ahad were elected President
and General Secretary respectively.
Towards February 1952: On 16 October 1951, Prime
Minister of Pakistan Liaqat Ali Khan, while addressing a public meeting at
Rawalpindi, was assassinated. Khwaja Nazimuddin was made the next Prime
Minister. In January 1952 Khwaja Nazimuddin visited Dhaka and addressed a
public meeting at Paltan Maidan on 27 January. In course of his speech he
declared that only Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan bluntly
forgetting that it was he, who, in his capacity as the Provincial Chief
Minister in 1948, signed agreement with the then State Language of Action
Committee to make Bengali one of the state languages of Pakistan.
Nazimuddin's comments sparked off wave of protests throughout East
Pakistan. People from all walks of life came out in the streets holding
processions, rallies, meetings to voice their protest against the
treacherous remarks of the Prime Minister.
On 30 January 1952 a meeting of representatives from
different organisations was held at the Dhaka District Bar Library Hall
with Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani in the chair and an All Party State
Language Committee of Action was formed with the following persons:
Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Abul Hashim, Shamsul Huq, Abdul Ghafur,
Prof. Abdul Quasem, Ataur Rahman Khan, Kamruddin Ahmad, Khairat Hossain
MLA, Mrs. Anwara Khatun MLA, Almas Ali, Abdul Awal, Syed Abdur Rahim,
Mohammad Toaha, Oli Ahad, Shamsul Huq Chowdhury, Khaleq Nawaz Khan, Kazi
Golam Mahbub (Convener), Mirza Golam Hafiz, Mujibul Huq, Hedayet Hossain
Chowdhury, M. Shamsul Alam, Anwarul Huq Khan, Golam Mawla, Syed Nurul Alam,
Mohammad Nurul Huda, Shaokat Ali, Abul Matin and Ahtaruddin Ahmad. The
meeting decided to observe general strike, and hold meeting and
processions throughout East Pakistan on 21 February, the day on which the
East Bengal Legislative Assembly was to go into session.[Vide-'Jatiya
Rajniti', Oli Ahad, 3rd edition, 1997, P. 104-106]. Hectic activities
started to make the 21 February programme a success throughout the whole
province.
21 February and After: Government got panicky at the
turn of events. On 20 February afternoon, Government promulgated 144 Cr.
PC banning all meetings, processions in Dhaka city for one month. An
emergent meeting of the All Party Committee of Action was held on 20
February night at the Awami Muslim League Office, 94, Nawabpur Road to
review the latest situation. The meeting, which was chaired by Abul Hashim,
after threadbare discussion for and against breaking 144 Cr. p.c. decided
not to break 144 Cr. P.
C. on the basis of 11 to 4 votes. It was, however,
decided that both the views would be placed before the students gathering
to be held on the University campus on 21 February morning, and also that
the decision of the gathering would be considered final.
The students gathering of 21 February was held at the
University campus with Gaziul Huq in the chair. Mr. Shamusl Huq (Awami
League) and Abdul Matin (University Committee of Action) respectively
placed the majority and minority views in the meeting. The meeting
overwhelmingly decided to break 144 Cr. p.c. The meeting over, the
students began to go out in the streets in groups of sixes, eights and
tens voluntarily courting arrest by breaking 144 cr. pc.
The process of peaceful breaking of 144 Cr.P.C.
however, did not continue for long. At one stage police entered into the
Univeristy campus and took resort to lathicharge on student crowds. This
made the students furious. They started brick batting on the police and
tried to rush towards the Legislative Assembly which was in session in the
Jagannath Hall auditorium.
The police tried to resist the demonstrating students
by resorting to lathicharge and firing tear gas shells on them. The
student who far outnumbered the police tried to clear their path towards
the Assembly by resorting to incessant brickbatting. As a result the
situation fast grew tense. The caution and insight that was needed to
tackle such a critical situation could not be demonstrated by the District
Magistrate Qureshi who ordered the police to fire. The result of the order
was tragic. One language demonstrator after another started falling on the
ground in front of the Medical College Hostel, with blood spiling from
their bodies. Bloodstained body of Abul Barkat fell on the ground,
followed by Salahuddin who lost the skull of his head. Then there were
Jabbar, Shafiq, Rafiq and a host of other known and unknown youths who
either lost their lives or were admitted in the hospital in a critical
state. According to government. account, the number of casualties was
four, but this was far from truth. In the evening curfew was promulgated
in the city and it is apprehended that many dead bodies were removed from
the hospital morgue during the night.
The news of students killing spread fast throughout the
city and the country. Offices and shops closed down spontaneously. Members
of the Legislative Assembly including Maulana A Rashid Tarkabagish,
Khairat Hossain and Anwara Khatun walked out of the Assembly session,
while Abul Kalam Shamsuddin resigned as a member of the Legislative
Assembly in protest. Thousands of people came out in the streets of Dhaka
spontaneously to protest against the barbaric incident. For subsequent 3
to 4 days Dhaka turned into a city of demonstrations and processions by
thousands and lakhs of people chanting angry slogans against police
atrocities, although curfew was still in force.
On 22 February police again opened fire on
demonstrators killing quite a few more of them. The Weekly Sainik brought
out special issue on 22 February. As all the copies were exhausted soon,
it had to go for 2nd and 3rd editions on 23 February with reporters on the
latest situation. Most of the leaders went into hiding as police had been
frantically trying to arrest them. Within two weeks from the nightfall of
23 February most of the members of the Committee of Action and other
leaders of the Movement including Maulana Bhashani, Abul Hashim, Shamsul
Huq, Kazi Golam Mahbub, Khairat Hossain, Oil Ahad, Abdul Matin, Mirza
Golam Hafiz, Khandakar Moshtaq Ahmad, Mohammd Toaha, Khaleq Nawaz Khan,
Aziz Ahmad, etc. were arrested. At about 3 AM in the night following 23
February police surrounded the office of Tamaddun Majlis at 19 Azimpur in
order to arrest Prof. M.A. Quasem and Abdul Ghafur, but they were able to
go out of the office and escape arrest.
Although the country lost a good number of valuable
lives on 21 February 1952, blood of the language martyrs did not go in
vain. After 21 February 1952, nobody ever dared to oppose the demand of
making Bengali a state language of Pakistan. In the 1954 general elections
which were fought on the basis of 21-point manifesto of the United Front,
the ruling Muslim League was given a crushing defeat by the
Bengali-supporting United Front. Still later a new Constituent Assembly
was formed including representatives of the United Front. The new
Constituent Assembly enacted in 1956 in first ever constitution of
Pakistan conceding the demand of making Bengali a state language,
signifying constitutional victory of the struggle that was humbly
initiated in 1947 the Tamaddun Majlis.
Although the Movement was formally a success in 1956,
it had still to go a long way. There was no move to make Bengali the
medium of instruction at the higher level. It was again Prof. M.A. Quasem
of Tamaddun Majlis who took the initiative to establish, in the sixties,
the first ever Bengali-medium college of the country, the Bangla College,
Dhaka.
The State Language Movement, which was launched in 1947
primarily to make Bengali the state language and medium of instruction,
was designed to achieve yet another greater glory for itself. The historic
booklet published by Tamaddun Majlis on 15 September 1947, while voicing
the demand to make the mother tongue of the people of East Pakistan one of
the state languages of Pakistan, made in it a subtle reference to the
historic Lahore Resolution which envisaged a separate sovereign state in
the Muslim majority zone of eastern India. The State Language Movement
successfully created the psychological basis of that separate sovereign
state that is Bangladesh today. It is by no means a small glory for the
Language Movement
