Friday, April 5, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Aamar Ekushe
BHASHA DIBASER SAHID DER SMARANE
AMAR EKUSHE
The 21st of February has been a day of national
mourning, pride, reflection and action. It was also the Language Martyr’s Day.
It is 60 years ago on this day that among others, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar,
Shafiur and Salam sacrificed their young precious lives for honour and
preservation of mother language, Bangla.
It has
been a day of pride for all people of Bangladesh, that the supreme sacrifice
made on this day in 1952 has eventually led to the recognition of preservation
of mother languages worldwide. Only in 1954, the United Front government of Abu
Hussain Sarker declared a public holiday for this day.
This
Day has become a milestone in recognition of the right to speak, promote and
preserve all mother languages across the world.
International Mother Language Day:
At the
initiative of Bangladesh government, it was 17th November 1999, the Paris-based
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
adopted 21st February as the International Mother Language Day. For the first
time, UNESCO observed 21st February, 2000 as the International Mother Language
Day.
Scottish
historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) called the language “the body
of thought”. This implies that if a mother tongue is crushed, thoughts and
ideas will inevitably die.
About
6,912 mother languages are thought to exist today. But social, demographic and
political factors are all contributing to possible disappearance of about 2,500
languages. Of the 2500 languages, 196 in India, 192 in the US, and 147 in
Indonesia, are likely to disappear, according to a report of UNESCO.
Furthermore
199 languages are spoken by a few. For example, the language, Middle Chulym,
now spoken by a handful in Siberian townsfolk (45 in number), has integrated
into Russian language and once the last fluent speaker dies, the language will
be extinct.
What
is lost when a language is lost is another world, according to many language
experts, valuable ethnographic and cultural information disappears when a
language dies, leaving a gap in the understanding of the variable cognitive
structures of which human brain is capable.
A Brief history of Language Movement:
On
February 23, 1948 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in Karachi,
Dhirendranath Dutta, a member of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly, made a
speech calling for Bengali to be made one of the official languages of
Pakistan. He stated as follows:
“I
know, Sir, that Bengali is a provincial language, but, so far our state is
concerned, it is the language of the majority of the people of the state. So
although it is a provincial language, as a language of the majority of the
people of the state it stands on a different footing. Out of six crores and
ninety lakhs [69 million] people inhabiting this State, 4 crores and 40 lakhs
(44 million) of these people speak the Bengali language. So Sir, what
should be the State language of the State of Pakistan? The State language
of the State should be the language which is used by the majority of the people
of the State, and for that, Sir, I consider Bengali language the lingua franca
of our State.”
However,
.in 1948 on 19th March, Pakistan’s Governor General Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
popularly known as Quaid-e-Azam, claimed at a gathering of students of Dhaka University
that Urdu should be the only state language of Pakistan, ignoring the fact that
Bangla is the mother tongue of 56% of the people of Pakistan.
Meanwhile
in 1950, students formed the “Bangla State Language Action Committee” and
worked tirelessly to make Bangla one of the state languages of Pakistan.
The
immediate starting point of the tragedy of 21st February is that on 27th
January, 1952, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Khwaja Nazimuddin announced
at a public meeting that Urdu alone should be the state language of Pakistan.
The
students were infuriated at the announcement because Nazimuddin as chief
minister of East Bengal in 1948 signed an agreement with the leaders of
‘Rashtrabhasa Sangram Parishad (State Language Action Committee) with a
commitment to adopt a resolution of having Bangla as the other state language
of Pakistan by the provincial Assembly. Many members of the Committee were
non-students, such as, Professor Abul Kashem, Kamruddin Ahmed, (later
Ambassador), Mohammad Toaha, Naimuddin Ahmed (later Advocate) and Abdur Rahman
Chowdhury (later a Judge of the High Court).
It may
be mentioned that subsequently students of the Dhaka University and Dhaka
Medical College took a robust role in the cause of the Language Movement and took
a crucial decision and defied the wishes of politicians to violate Section 144
(prohibiting an assembly more than five persons) on 21st February, 1952. . The
then political leaders did not want to destabilize the political situation by
lending support to students to violate Section 144 to delay general election in
East Bengal, (later East Pakistan, now Bangladesh)..
On
21st February, 1952, agitated unarmed students of Dhaka University, violated
Section 144 in protest, to proceed to the elected members of the East
Bengal Legislative Assembly ( near SM Hall) and present their demand to
Nurul Amin, the Chief Minister.
On
their way at the site of the Medical College students’ hostel number 12, at
3-30 PM, the police opened fire on the peaceful procession of students by an
order of a Magistrate (a West Pakistani).
Jabbar
and Rafiq died on the spot, while three others died later in hospital ( an
impromptu monument had been set up by Medical College students on the site of
the current Shaheed Minar ) It is believed that many more were killed
including a ten year old boy, but their bodies were taken away by the police
and were secretly buried. The rest is history.
Bangla
language & Book Fair:
Of all
the languages in South Asia, Bangla is the first to develop a literature of a
very high order and still holds the model for other languages. Bangla language
is unique in the sense that it has many varieties of ways to describe an
object. For example, in English an “eye” has only one expression to describe
but in Bengali an “eye” can be described more than one way (akhi, nayan, chok, padmalochon etc).
Bangla
writers in the past and present have enriched the language by transfusing
Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and English languages in it. Bangla was raised to its
highest fame by Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore) when he was awarded in 1913 the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
Every
one in Bangladesh has a right to read and write Bangla, and unless free adult
education for all ages of people with free learning equipment and school dress
for poor children are provided, the purpose of the sacrifice of Bangla language
will be defeated.
One
educationist suggested that students from high school to university are to be
engaged during their holidays to take one village in their charge to make all
the villagers literate. Such a movement by students and literate village youth
can easily turn into a literacy campaign under the government and NGOs. Within
a few years all Bangladesh will be literate.
It is
good to note that during the last two years, free text books are provided to
all students and drop out from primary schools of poor students before
secondary school stage has been reduced due to effective incentives for
retention of students.
Many
suggest language is a living thing and must be relevant for all people. Bangla
Academy and educationists may convene a conference to discuss, debate and
arrive at a decision of simplification and easy to make Bangla language access
to all people in the country.
Bangla
Academy may consider the following: First, the grammar of Bangla language
needs to be simplified. Second, some alphabets of Bangla need to be revisited
as to whether all alphabets are necessary or not. Third, the spelling of Bangla
is to be made easy and practical for writing. Fourth, monitoring in schools and
training for correct pronunciation of Bangla words for teachers in schools may
be undertaken.
Another
fact we must not forget that learning of Bangla does not mean that we do not
learn other languages, especially English. Multi-lingual skill is an asset for
every one and English has turned into a language of trade and commerce.
Since
1979, the Ekushey February Book Fair was held at the Bangladesh Academy
premises. This year, like last year, the book stalls are set up in spaces close
to Bangla Academy.
Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the fair on 1st February. As many as 360
publishing houses and institutions including Dhaka Metropolitan Police have set
up book stalls at the Fair. According to Bangla Academy, a total of 169 new
books of different publications hit the fair on the third day and last year
3,600 books were displayed at the Fair. It is reported that number of
visitors to the Fair is on the rise and reading habits are on an upward curve.
For
readers, the price of Bangla books has become very expensive because the
printing paper and other materials are costly. The government may consider in
exempting tax and custom duties on printing paper and other materials so as to
make books easily available to readers at an affordable price. A knowledge-
nation does not grow automatically. It needs to be carefully developed and
nurtured.
Another
matter to be considered by the Academy is whether the book fair can be held in
various parts of the Dhaka metropolitan city for access to all. Traffic jam is
one of the hurdles to attend the Book Fair at the Academy from all parts of the
city, besides standing for a long queue to enter the Fair.
Finally,
21st February is more than a language movement for people of Bangladesh. Many
historians think 21st February laid the seed of the foundation of a separate
state of Bangladesh on the basis of Bengali nationalism that was aptly summed
up by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib when he said: “I am Bengali, my nationalism is Bengali.”
The Constitution as amended last year in its Article 6 (2) describes “the
people of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangalees as a nation and the citizens
of Bangladesh shall be known as Bangladeshis.”
COURSTESY : Harun ur Rashid
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
DHAKA COURIER
Monday, February 18, 2013
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