Struggle for the State Language

Shortly after the establishment of Pakistan, differences between the two wings came out as startling facts. In the intellectual quarters of East Pakistan, their mother tongue Bangla was being totally ignored. Protests were organised outspokenly. I remember joining the processions as early as 1948. I was a student of class eight back then at the Government Muslim High School in Chattogram. I had just arrived from my village school in Rangunia a few months ago. My class fellows and I volunteered to participate in some activities in favour of our mother tongue, like selling some pro-revolutionary publications in the streets or joining more processions of students. The movement's climax was reached when on 21st February 1952, some young protesters were killed in Dhaka. The news reached Chattogram on the same evening, and poet Mahbubul Alam Chowdhury, though ill at the time, had composed a long poem with fiery lines like "Kandte Ashini, Fanshir Dabi Niye Eshecchi" (I have not come to shed tears where they laid down their lives- translation by Kabir Chowdhury). We spent long hours in the evenings shouting slogans at the Laldighi Maidan. There were more processions and continuous strikes.

In July 1954, I had an interview with Dr Muhammad Shahidullah and joined the Department of Bengali at the University of Dhaka as a student. I had Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, Zahir Raihan and others as close class friends.

In 1955, we celebrated 21st February in the most revolutionary way possible, under the circumstances. The police arrested most of us, but we still carried on with the movement from Madhu's canteen until the evening.

From 1956, there had been no 'struggle'. The authorities had accepted Bangla as a national language. But there were continuous political movements in the 1960s. The revolutionary spirit of our generation reached its peak in 1971 during the last freedom fight against Pakistan. With the establishment of Bangladesh, we have permanently ensured the foundation of a state language.

Professor Dr Mahmud Shah Qureshi is an eminent Bangladeshi scholar. He has been honoured with numerous accolades, including Ekushey Padak and French Legion d'Honour.