By Correspondent, The CNN :
“Ekushey February dyed in the blood of my brother, can I forget it” – the month of February dyed in blood, the month of language movement started today Thursday. February is a significant month for commemorating language martyrs. February is an inexhaustible beacon of consciousness of the people of the country.
It started after 1947. Pakistan first struck the language of the Bengali community. By trying to take away the language of the mouth, the conspiracy begins. Wanted to make Urdu the national language. The Bengali nation did not back down to confront that conspiracy. The people of Bengal are marching on the streets every day to demand their mother tongue. The movement to protect the Bengali language began. The movement reached its final form on February 21, 1952 through struggle. Those twenty-two days have been remembered in history. On February 21, 1952, salam, Jabbar, Shafiq, Barkat and Rafiq, the noble boys of Bengal, broke Article 144 and took to the streets to protect the mother language Bengali. In return for their bravery and fresh blood, they saved the dignity of mother tongue Bengal that day. The Bengali language was established by the Bengali race. The chapter of glory and pride is associated with this mournful month. On February 1, 1952, the Bengali independence movement began along the lines of the Durbar movement demanding Bengali as the national language. In 1971, independent sovereign Bangladesh was achieved through an armed war against the invading Pakistani forces for 9 months. From that point of view, the month of February is sad on the one hand, but on the other hand, it has its glorious chapter.
The only Bengali nation in the world gave its life in this month for the language. On February 1, 1952, the students of Dhaka University disobeyed Article 144 and came out on the streets in the morning demanding Bengali as their mother tongue, and the police opened fire on them. Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar, Abdus Salam and some other students were killed in this. Angry Dhaka residents gathered at Dhaka Medical College Hostel to protest this incident. Despite the torture, the students as well as the common people again took to the streets the next day on February 22 to protest. They participated in Ghaibi Janaza held for the martyrs in Medical College Hostel premises. To immortalize the memory of language martyrs, a monument was erected overnight on February 23 in the premises of the Medical College Hostel, which was demolished by the government on February 26. The language movement gained more momentum through this incident of February 1st. When the United Front won the provincial assembly elections in 1954, Bengali was recognized as one of the official languages of Pakistan in the session of the Constituent Assembly held on May 7.
The sacrifice of the Damal children of Bengal for the language received international recognition on November 17, 1999. UNESCO declared 21st February as ‘International Mother Language Day’. Through this, February 11th is now celebrated in the countries of the world as the International Mother Language Day. Various programs are starting from the first day of February, the month of language movement.
The Amar Ekushey Book Fair is being organized by Bangla Academy on February 1 to pay tribute to the memory of language martyrs.
