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The language of the people of eastern wing
of Pakistan, and they were the majority, was Bangla. It had a
rich tradition of literature of over a thousand years. The
Bangalees also had a highly developed culture that had little
in common with the culture of the people of western wing of
Pakistan. The Bangalees' love for and attachment to their
language and culture were great and when in 1952 the
neo-colonial, power-hungry, arrogant rulers of Pakistan
declared that 'Urdu and Urdu alone would be the state language
of Pakistan, they sowed the seed of its future disintegration.
The people of the then East Pakistan,
particularly the students, rose in angry protest against the
vicious undemocratic designs of the government. Those designs
really amounted to the destruction of Bangla language and
culture and imposition of the language and culture of the
people of western wing on the people of eastern wing. The
reaction was strong and spontaneous.
The government decided to quell protests by
brute force. The police opened fire on 21st February 1952 on
unarmed peaceful protesters, most of whom were students,
resulting in the death, among others, of Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar
and Salam. As the news of those deaths spread, the entire
people of the eastern wing felt greatly involved emotionally.
Those who lost their lives to uphold the prestige defend the
rights of their mother-language became hallowed martyrs.
Picture of Language Fighters
Their sacrifice at once tragic glorious and
the indignation of the people against an autocratic government
had far reaching effect. 21st February became a symbol and
attained mythic properties, it nourished the concepts of
democracy and secularism. It also contributed significantly to
the flowering of Bangalee nationalism. It led to the dawning
of the realization in the minds of the Bangalees that they
constituted a separate nation and their destiny lay not with
Pakistan but elsewhere as an independent country. The
subsequent democratic mass movements of the late fifties,
throughout the sixties and the seventies, and finally the
struggle for independence and the war of liberation owed a
great deal to 21st February.
From 1953 onwards, starting from 21st February 1953, the
immortal 21st February has been observed as a great national
event all over Bangladesh. |
