Ekushey is about ultimate sacrifice for great cause

Pakistan was born, divided into eastern and western zones with 1000 square miles of Indian territory lying in between! The cultural difference, language and even nature of the two people, were so far apart. West Pakistani politicians, deluded by their power gained by machinations and manipulations thought of grand designs of domination. The seed of a fratricide was sown.

What is so amazing about Ekushey February is the background of courage and sagacity shown by the student community at that time. After all, colonial history and the flagrant communal divisions were not in too distant past. The bigwigs of the Muslim League were thinking that the pre-eminence of Urdu was fait accompli. No doubt that the students were the first to reaslise the importance of protecting the value of their mother tongue and the greater question of their political right i. e. the right of the majority Bengali. The magnificence of the realisation is a matter of amazement for anyone who knows the socio-political and economic realities of that era.

On 11 March 1948, Bengali students congregated in front of the secretariat with the demand to declare Bangla as one of the state languages. The Police with their bayonet charged, came down on the agitating students and many were injured. . The fight for Rashtra Bhasha began.

Twenty first February 1952 was declared as a state language day and students and people of all walks of life came out, to fight for the right to speak and practice their own mother tongue. Many suffered injuries but some valiant sons of the soil made the ultimate sacrifice to save Bangla. In the next 16 years the Bengali nation gave a strong account of themselves in the quest for getting the political recognition of their rights. Ekushey was the starting point, the first call for self-assertion. The language movement was based on the just and democratic aspiration of the majority. Bangla was spoken by 55 per cent of the then Pakistan population. Rashtra Bhasha Andolon, or the struggle for the state language, only speaks volumes about the understanding and respect the people of Bangladesh have for democracy.

Amar Ekushey, 21 February has been declared as World Mother Language Day. The many who suffered and the martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice are in our thoughts this day. We salute them for the gift they have given us. The world salutes them for giving a lesson to that love for the mother tongue is worth dying for.

Ershad Khandker is a senior journalist.