February 21st In History: Bangladeshis Die For Bengla, Origins Of International Mother Language Day

Photo illustration of the atmosphere of Dhaka City (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Today the world commemorates International Mother Language Day. As a means of communication, the world recognizes diversity in language. That is what inspired UNESCO. Drawing on its historical roots, Bangladesh became a pioneer.

When Pakistan became independent in 1947, they were not completely united. The country initially split into East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and West Pakistan.

Separated by India, the two sides of the country are completely different, both in terms of social, culture, and language. In 1948, West Pakistan declared Urdu the national language.

This led to protests on the east side. The majority of the population in the area knows Bangla/Bengali as their language.

Demonstration demanding Bangla/Bengali language

Finally, on February 21, 1952, people in East Pakistan staged a protest. Represented by activists and students from Dhaka University, they moved to the Legislative Assembly in East Bengal.

The police responded to the mass movement with gunfire. Four students: Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar, Sofiur Rahman, and Abdus Salam died. Several other demonstrators were injured.

Quoted from India Today, this is a very rare incident in history when people died sacrificing their lives to fight for a language.

Nothing is wasted. In the years since widespread protests and many other sacrifices, the government finally granted the official status to the Bangla language in 1956.

Since then the people of East Pakistan have been able to use Bangla as the official language, with legitimacy from the government, of course. Then, on March 26, 1971, East Pakistan separated from West Pakistan and stood as Bangladesh.

They turned to the UN to free themselves from Pakistani influence. Bangladesh also later erected the Shahid Minar monument to honor the warriors who sacrificed their lives to fight for the Bangla language.

The use of the Bangla language was officially determined by the international community. On January 9, 1998, a Bengali in Vancouver, Canada, Rafiqul Islam sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Rafiqul asked Kofi Annan to take steps to save the world's languages from extinction by declaring International Mother Language Day. At that time Rafiq proposed date of 21 February to commemorate the 1952 Dhaka tragedy.

The letter was answered on November 17, 1999. At that time UNESCO announced that every February 21 was the commemoration of International Mother Language Day.

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