untold stroy of 21 february

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2nd Wave

January 26, 1952

The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan announces its recommendation that Urdu should be the only state language.

In a public meting at Paltan Maidan, Dhaka, Prime Minister Nazimuddin declares that Urdu alone will be the state language of Pakistan.

Both the developments spark off the second wave of language agitation in East Bengal.

January 28, 1952

The students of Dhaka University in a protest meeting call the Prime Minister and the Provincial Ministers as stooges of West Pakistan.

January 30, 1952

In a secret meeting called by the Awami League, which is attended by a number of communist front as well as other organizations, it is agreed that the language agitation can not be successfully carried by the students alone. To mobilize full political and student support, it is decided that the leadership of the movement should be assumed by the Awami League under Bhashani.

January 31, 1952

Bhashani presides over an all-party convention in Dhaka. The convention is attended by prominent leaders like Abul Hashim and Hamidul Haq Choudhury. A broad-based All-Party Committee of Action (APCA) is constituted with Kazi Golam Mahboob as Convener and Maulana Bhashani as Chairman, and with two representatives from the Awami League, Students League, Youth League, Khilafate-Rabbani Party, and the Dhaka University State Language Committee of Action.

February 3, 1952

Committee of Action holds a protest meeting in Dhaka against the move 'to dominate the majority province of East Bengal linguistically and culturally'. The provincial chief of Awami League, Maulana Bhashani addresses the meeting. On the suggestion of Abul Hashim it decides to hold a general strike on 21 February, when the East Bengal Assembly is due to meet for its budget session.

February 20, 1952

At 6 p.m. an order under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code prohibiting processions and meetings in Dhaka City is promulgated.

This order generated tension and resentment among the students.

February 21, 1952

A general strike is observed.

Noon - A meeting is held in the campus of Dhaka University. Students decide to defy the official ban imposed by Nurul Amin's administration and processions are taken out to stage a demonstration in front of the Provincial Assembly. Police starts lobbing tear gas shells to the students. Students retaliate by batting bricks. The ensuing riot spreads to the nearby campuses of the Medical and Engineering colleges.

4 p.m. -The police opens fire in front of the Medical College hostel. Five persons - Mohammad Salauddin, Abdul Jabbar, Abul Barkat, Rafiquddin Ahmed and Abdus Salam - are killed, the first three are students of Dhaka University.

"The news of the killing spread like wildfire throughout the city and people rushed in thousands towards the Medical College premises." (-- Talukder Maniruzzaman)

Inside the assembly, six opposition members press for the adjournment of the House and demand an inquiry into the incidents. But Chief Minister Nurul Amin urges the House to proceed with the planned agenda for the day. At this point all the opposition members of the Assembly walk out in protest.

February 22, 1952

Thousands of men and women throng the university, Medical College and Engineering College areas to offer prayers for the victims of the police firing.

After prayers when they go for a procession, the police opens fire.

The police also fire on angry mob who burned the offices of a pro-government newspaper. Four persons are killed.

As the situation deteriorates, the government calls in the military to bring things under control.

Bowing to the pressure, the Chief Minister Nurul Amin moves a motion recommending to the Constituent Assembly that Bengali should be one of the state language of Pakistan. The motion is passed unanimously.

"For the first time a number of Muslim members voted in favour of the amendments moved by the opposition, which so far had consisted of the Hindu Congress members only. The split in the Muslim League became formalized when some members demanded a separate bloc from the Speaker; the Awami (Muslim) League had attained the status of an opposition parliamentary party." (-- Hasan Zaheer)

February 23, 1952

A complete general strike is spontaneously observed, despite the resolution by the Provincial Assembly. The government again responds with repressive measures.

APCA decides to observe a general strike on February 25 to protest the government's actions.

The students of Medical College erect overnight a Shahid Minar (Martyr's Memorial) at the place where Barkat was shot to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of the students and general population. Shahid Minar later became the rallying symbol for the Bengalis.

February 24, 1952

The government gives full authority to the police and military to bring the situation in Dhaka back to normal within 48 hours.

"During these 48 hours the police arrested almost all the student and political leaders associated with the language movement." (-- Talukder Muniruzzaman)

February 25, 1952

The Dhaka University is closed sine die.

"In the face of these repressive measures, the movement lost its momentum in Dhaka. But it spread widely throughout the districts ... In addition to demands for recognition of Bengali as one of state languages of Pakistan, students now began to call for the resignation of the 'bloody' Nurul Amin cabinet ... Nurul Amin claimed that the government "had saved the province from disaster and chaos" by its repressive measures. The students, however, argued that they had already "written the success story of the movement on the streets with their blood." In retrospect, whatever the merits of government and student actions, it is clear that the movement did sow the seeds of a secular-linguistic Bengali nationalism in east Bengal. Its immediate impact was to prepare the ground for the complete routing of the Muslim League in the 1954 elections by a United Front of opposition political parties, on a nationalistic planck of cultural, political and economic autonomy for East Bengal." (-- Talukder Maniruzzaman)

"The Language Movement added a new dimension to politics in Pakistan. It left deep impression on the minds of the younger generation of Bengalis and imbued them with the spirit of Bengali nationalism. The passion of Bengali nationalism which was aroused by the Language Movement shall kindle in the hearts of the Bengalis forever ... Perhaps very few people realised then that with the bloodshed in 1952 the new-born state of Pakistan had in fact started to bleed to death." (-- Rafiqul Islam)

Results

May 7, 1954

The Pakistan government recognizes Bangla as a state language.

Feb 26, 1956

The Constituent Assembly passes the first Constitution of Pakistan recognizing Bangla as a State Language.

March 23, 1956

The first Constitution of Pakistan comes into effect.

March 26, 1971

Bangladesh become an independent nation.

Sources

1. Hasan Zaheer, The Separation of East Pakistan - The Rise and Realization of Bengali Muslim Nationalism, Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1994
2. Talukder Maniruzzaman, The Bangladesh Revolution and its Aftermath, Bangladesh Books International Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1980
3. Siddiq Salik, Witness to Surrender, Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1977
4. Rafiqul Islam, A Tale of Millions, Ananna, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3rd edition, 1986
5. Md. Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Emergence of Bangladesh and Role of Awami League, Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, India, 1982

MARTYRS OF THE MOTHER TONGUE

Bangladesh was governed by Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. As a consequence, Urdu was the only recognized language. Bangla, the language of the Bengalis, was forbidden. During a protest demonstration by students in Dhaka on 21 February 1952, the Pakistani police killed four people. Since then, Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar, and Selam have become 'Martyrs of the Mother Tongue', and the Bengalis celebrate 'Language Martyrs Day' on 21 February.

In 1999 the UNESCO made 21 February International Mother Language Day, a day intended to promote free language choice everywhere in the world.

  

The Champion of Bangla Language

Dhirendra Nath Datta

In defence of Bangla: Bangla as the state language of Pakistan

Sir, in moving this– the motion that stands in my name– I can assure the House that I do so not in a spirit of narrow Provincialism, but, Sir, in the spirit that this motion receives the fullest consideration at the hands of the members. I know, Sir, that Bangla 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, but as it is a language of the majority of the people of the state and it stands on a different footing therefore. Out of six crores and ninety lakhs of people inhabiting this State, 4 crores and 40 lakhs of people speak the Bangla language. So, Sir, what should be the State language of the State? 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 that Bangla language is a lingua franca of our State. It may be contended with a certain amount of force that even in our sister dominion the provincial language have not got the status of a lingua franca because in her sister dominion of India the proceedings of the constituent Assembly is conducted in Hindustani, Hindi or Urdu or English. It is not conducted in the Bangla language but so far as the Bangla is concerned out of 30 crores of people inhabiting that sister dominion two and a half crores speak the Bangla language. Hindustani, Hindi or Urdu has been given and honored place in the sister dominion because the majority of the people of the Indian Dominion speak that language. So we are to consider that in our state it is found that the majority of the People of the state do speak the Bangla language than Bangla should have an honoured place even in the Central Government.
I know, Sir, I voice the sentiments of the vast millions of our State. In the meantime I wand to let the House know the feelings of the vastest millions of our State. Even, Sir, in the Eastern Pakistan where the People numbering four crores and forty lakhs speak the Bangla language the common man even if he goes to a Post Office and wants to have a money order form finds that the money order is printed in Urdu language and is not printed in Bangla language or it is printed in English. A poor cultivator, who has got his son, Sir, as a student in the Dhaka University and who wants to send money to him, goes to a village Post Office and he asked for a money order form, finds that the money order form is printed in Urdu language. He can not send the money order but shall have to rush to a distant town and have this money order form translated for him and then the money order, Sir, that is necessary for his boy can be sent. The poor cultivator, Sir, sells a certain plot of land or a poor cultivator purchases a plot of land and goes to the Stamp vendor and pays him money but cannot say whether he has received the value of the money is Stamps. The value of the Stamp, Sir, is written not in Bangla but is written in Urdu and English. But he cannot say, Sir, whether he has got the real value of the Stamp. These are the difficulties experienced by the Common man of our State. The language of the state should be such which can be understood by the common man of the State. The common man of the State numbering four crores and forty millions find that the proceedings of this Assembly which is their mother of parliaments is being conduct in a language, Sir, which is unknown to them. Then, Sir, English has got an honoured place, Sir, in Rule 29. I know, Sir, English has got an honoured place because of the International Character.
But, Sir, if English can have an honoured place in Rule 29 that the proceedings of the Assembly should be conducted in Urdu or English why Bangla, which is spoken by four crores forty lakhs of people should not have an honoured place, Sir, in Rule 29 of the procedure Rules. So, Sir, I know I am voicing the sentiments of the vast millions of our State and therefore Bangla should not be treated as a Provincial Language. It should be treated as the language of the State. And therefore, Sir, I suggest that after the word 'English', the words 'Bangla' be inserted in Rule 29. I do not wish to detain the House but I wish that the Members present here should give a consideration to the sentiments of the vast millions of over State, Sir, and should accept the amendment that has been moved by me.
Mr Datta's Speech in the Parliament

Remembering this day - February 21, 1952 - after half a century

 A.H. Jaffor Ullah

How quick time passes by!  It seems like the bloody the incident of February 21, 1952, just happened few decades earlier.  A page from my memory unfolds when I was a little boy growing up in Tejkunipara, Tejgaon, Dacca -- a place just walking distance from Farmgate area of Dhaka.  Our neighborhood was only 2 miles north of Dhaka Medical College gate, which was the epicenter of the day’s activity on February 21, 1952.  But it was a tranquil day where I lived as far as I could tell.  At the time no one thought that the day’s activity would shape up the lives of millions of people even half a century later.

Ekushey February did not happen just like that.  Four and a half year before bullets was pumped into the body of some protesters who were shouting "Rashtro-Bhasha – Bangla Cai" near the gate of Dhaka Medical College a new nation was created by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his followers belonging to The Muslim League of India.  Mr. Jinnah wanted the new nation Pakistan to be a secular Muslim country and not an Islamic one.  However, in the post-Jinnah days, the rulers of Pakistan in Karachi had other ideas.  The new nation was being governed by a constitution essentially handed down by the British.  The name of the new nation was "Republic of Pakistan."  Nonetheless, some "bright folks" in Karachi had other ideas in their mind.  They were working on a new constitution for this new nation.  The blueprint of that constitution was worked out even before Pakistan was carved out of India on August 14, 1947.  Poor Mr. Jinnah only lived 13 months after the day Pakistan came into being.  To fill the Governor General’s position, the Muslim Leaguers chose Dhaka Nawab Bari’s scion Khwaja Nazimuddin while Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan who migrated from Karnal district of East Punjab remained as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.  Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan was then gun downed by a military clique on October 16, 1951, who did not like the soft approach Liaquat Ali had adopted to settle the Kashmir issue with the Indians.  After the assassination of Liaquat Ali, Khawaja Nazimuddin was removed from the position of the Governor General by the work of a Muslim League clique headed by the ex-Finance Minister Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, a Punjabi accountant and an ex-bureaucrat.  Mr. Ghulam Mohammad then ascended to the supreme power of the Governor General of Pakistan, which was the most powerful position according to the constitution adopted in August 1947.  In just over four-years after Pakistan was formed an evil Punjabi clique took control of Pakistan.  Incidentally, Khawaja Nazimuddin was sacked by Ghulam Mohammad in April 1953.  There went the dream of any Bengali to be in the limelight in Pakistani politics in Karachi.  There is a good reason for bringing this clouded early history of Pakistan while I discuss the incident of gunning down of students on February 21, 1952, outside the front gate of Dhaka Medical College.

When police fired on agitated but unarmed students, who were protesting against the status of Urdu being the only state language of Pakistan, the bureaucrat turn politician Ghulam Mohammad was the chief executive of Pakistan being the Governor General.  Dhaka’s own Khawaja Nazimuddin was the Prime Minister and the Pakistan Muslim League was managing the nation with a stiff hand.  In the province of East Bengal, which later was named East Pakistan after march 23, 1956, too, the Muslim League was in firm control.  One local politician by the name Nurul Amin who represented the Mymensingh town and the neighboring area was the provincial Chief Minister of East Bengal.  Therefore, the entire Muslim League organization of East Bengal and Pakistan took the blame for the police’s heavy-handedness in dealing with the striking students that lead to this bloody incidents of February 21, 1952.  At the time, many Bangalee politicians belonging to Awami League and other political parties were rounded up by the government and were sent to jails everywhere in East Bengal.  Incidentally, Sheikh Mujib was also locked up in Dhaka’s Central Gaol located on the road named ironically after Khwaja Nazimuddin Road. 

 Three key figures in 1952 Pakistani politics.  Left: Cheif Minister of E. Bengal Nurul Amin (Bangalee); Middle: Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin (Bangalee);  Right: Governor General Ghulam Mohammad (Punjabi)

When some Dhaka University students and some unidentified people (one being a rickshawalla) were killed by the police action, the Chief Minister Mr. Nurul Amin was immediately identified as the chief culprit.  Khwaja Nazimuddin was  also blamed for the incident.  For some strange reason or other, Ghulam Mohammad, the all too powerful Governor General of Pakistan eluded the blame.  Perhaps Khwaja Nazimuddin and Nurul Amin were the fall guys who were squarely blamed because they were both Bangalees and the protest for which the students and some innocent folks died were tied up with the language movement.  The local vernacular press had an epithet for them; they were both labeled as traitor.  The shrewd Punjabi Governor General Ghulam Mohammad took advantage of the chaos being generated in Dhaka.  They called it a local problem.  Khawaja Nazimuddin was ultimately sacked by the Governor General in April 1953 only to be replaced by another Bangalee stooge of the Karachi oligarchy Mr. Mohammad Ali of Bogra (Bogura district of East Bengal).    That essentially killed the career of Mr. Nazimuddin as a politician, which was started in 1922 when he was elected as the Chairman of Dhaka municipality.  This one-time favorite politician of Mr. Jinnah died in 1964.

A blemished Nurul Amin remained as a pariah Muslim Leaguer throughout the rest of his life.  First in 1954 general election, the United Front candidates defeated the Muslim League candidates in a landslide victory.  One of the reason is the killing of students on February 21, 1952.  The Bangalees of East Bengal never could efface that bloody incident from their mind.  Moreover, the cry for "Rashtro Bhasha -- Bangla Cai" remained alive because the Karachi Administration never did come to terms with the Bangalees demand for Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan.  The defamed Muslim Leaguer Mr. Nurul Amin remained loyal throughout the rest of his life to the cause of united Pakistan so much so that during 1971 when Bangalees’ call for liberation came loud and clear, Mr. Nurul Amin sided with the Pakistani military.  He left for Pakistan during the crisis where he remained the rest of his life in infamy.  Nurul Amin who ordered the firing of bullets on unarmed students in 1952 will be remembered as a traitor.  In the aftermath of February 1952 gunning down of students this scribe as a youngster saw handmade sign "Nurul Amine’r Kolla Cai" (Bring us the head of Nurul Amin!) hanging by the neck of stray dogs near Tejgaon Thana.  This brought a whole lot of chuckles among our elders who were solidly behind the ‘Rashtro Bhasha -- Bangla Cai’ movement.

The question we should all be asking is the following: Why was this shooting possible on February 21, 1952?  The answer to this straight forward question is not that simple.  First, there was this Muslim League  government in the province of East Bengal that was headed by Nurul Amin.  This government would take orders from Karachi, which was also headed by the Pakistan Muslim League.  Four years before the incident of February 21st killing of Bhasha Andolon protesters, Mr. Jinnah pronounced in Curzon Hall on March 21, 1948, that "Urdu and only Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan."  He also warned the audience at Curzon Hall by uttering -- "Any one who tries to mislead you is really an enemy of Pakistan."  However, a few backbenchers shot back, "No. No. Never."  Whether Bangla should be one of the state languages of Pakistan or not, was a serious issue in the constituent assembly in Karachi.  Every time a legislator by the name Dherendranath Dutta raised this issue to include Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan in the assembly, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali and his gang including Khwaja Nazimuddin would vote against it.  Our parental and grandfather’s generation knew all about it throughout East Bengal, but what else could they do?  The politicians in East Bengal were dominated by the Muslim League of Mr. Jinnah.  They were not in a mood to challenge the authority of Messrs. Jinnah, Liaquat Ali, Nazimuddin, and the whole shebang.  Therefore, the Bhasha Andolon became the burden of most ordinary folks in Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Khulna, and other urbane areas.  The college students took the lead with the tacit approval of their professors.  The movement was undeniably an homegrown one; a leaflet there, a wall poster there, and a slogan near the school yard.  That is all.  Therefore, when students were protesting in the Dhaka University campus and when they decided to march towards the Provincial Assembly Building locate in Ramna not to far from the DU campus the police created a roadblock near the front gate of Dhaka Medical College.  The bloody incident happened because of the stepmotherly attitude of Nurul Amin’s government.

The whole sad episode of Ekushe February could have been averted if there were some sensible politicians among the Muslim Leaguers.  We have to remember one thing and that is this Pakistan was created to safeguard the interest of Urdu-speaking elite of U.P. and nearby northwestern Indian states.  Bengal was never part of the original Pakistan scheme as propounded by Choudhary Rahmat Ali.  I recently found out that the original dreamer of Pakistan had chosen a name of East Bengal, which is Bang-i-Islam (ref: http://www.storyofpakistan.com/person.asp?perid=P008).  Even though in united Pakistan a majority spoke Bangla, the ruling U.P. and Punjabi politicians chose Urdu that was spoken by only 12-15% of the total population.  The reason for this stepmotherly attitude was that Bangalees did not have a strong voice in Karachi’s constituent assembly.  The matter was further complicated by the fact that we had some obsequious Bangalee politicians such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Bogra’s Mohammad Ali, etc., and sad as it may sound, even Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was not a champion for the cause of Bangla language.  All these negative factors worked against us in the wee hours of Pakistan’s independence.  Therefore, the bloodshed became a necessary evil.  I feel sorry for those who gave their lives.  They would have been in their seventies now had they been alive today.  However, because of their supreme sacrifice, the Bangla language became one of the state languages of Pakistan but it took several years after the bloody incident of February 21, 1952.

In the years after 1952, the remembrance and commemoration of Bhasha Dibash used to wear a sad and pallid look.  However, by the end of 1960s the Bhasha Dibash had abandoned this sad demeanor and it  took a more heroic and jubilant tone.  The Bangalees en masse took to the streets in 1968 and 1969 to denounce the heavy-handedness of Ayub’s regime dealing with Agartala Conspiracy case.  In this constantly evolving world, the celebration of Bhasha Dibash changed it’s relevance.  It is no longer a sad chapter of our early struggle against the tyranny of a few who thought they would decide our fate sitting a thousand miles away in Karachi.

I have a mixed feeling about Ekushe February.  My heart fills with joy knowing that on that fateful day, in the Bangla month of Falgun, a few brave sons of the soil protested vigorously to make Bangla our Rashtro Bhasha and they took some bullets, which was the sad part.  Blood was spilled in the perched and dusty soil in front of Dhaka Medical College gate.  In return we got our voice back.  The politicians in Karachi learned their lesson well.  Come to think of it, the Bangla month of Falgun is a time when new buds sprout.  Similarly, the sacrifice of a few brave sons of the soil heralded a new beginning.  We broke the manacles of tyranny.  No wonder, this secular celebration is one of the most cherished one in Bangladesh.  You look everywhere and what you see is the reaffirmation of our victory on Ekushey February, 1952.  Also, it is a small wonder that this sacrifice by the few Bangalees half a century ago smothered the nation affectionately with the name Ekushe no matter whether it is a TV station or a Book Fair.

Let the memory of that supreme sacrifice of a few brave sons of the soil linger in the minds of millions of folks living in the deltaic land of Bangladesh.  Bangla Bhasha’r Joi Houk!  (Long Live Bangla language).
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A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans.  His e-mail address is -  Jaffor@netscape.net

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