Bangladesh: '' The Language Martyrs' Day ''

Editorial:http://www.thedailystar.net

A little more than six decades ago today, we raised our fists demanding Bangla's rightful place in the then Pakistan. We were arrayed against a powerful state machinery hell-bent on suppressing our struggle to defend our mother tongue against vicious onslaughts on it. Some of our young people took up the cause from where it was left off from 1948 to early 1952, when their seniors had powerfully articulated an opposition to the imposition of Urdu solely as state language. But for the ultimate sacrifice of Salam, Barkat, Jabbar and others who laid down their lives, the language movement wouldn't have gathered the momentum it did. As we pay homage to our first martyrs, we also recall the contributions of the other heroes in strengthening the movement for establishing our cultural identity. In fact, voicing a right to defend our language was at the heart of our struggle for establishing a distinct cultural identity against the forces of linguistic subjugation and communalism. The rest is history replete with one success after another: Cultural emancipation leading to emergence of independent Bangladesh through processes of education movement, launch of 6-point charter of demand 1966, 1969 popular uprising against totalitarian Pak regime, freedom struggle of 1971 and the anti-autocracy movement in 1990. And now we have a renewal of youth resurgence at Shahbagh square in a splendid replay of history upholding the cause of justice. The UNESCO's appellation of the day as International Mother Language Day bears a number of messages for us. It is the world's way of paying homage to our language heroes and a tribute to our mother tongue. But there are other points of significance and pride associated with the internationalisation of the day. Actually, it has increased our obligation manifold to not just develop our own language and literature but also to get connected with the languages and literatures of other countries. Moreover, it is a clarion call for saving mother tongues that risk being extinct. Specifically, our endeavour should be to grow effectively bilingual in the very least like India and Sri Lanka where people speak English with ease and competence, communicating with the business world in a more proficient way than us.