& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

The Language Movement and...

(Continued from previous page)
linguistic as well as nationalistic existence—struggle. We were forced to fight for what is ours forever. People of all walks of life of the then East Bengal rose up with that promise. The students were first to protest. However, people of this land offered them strength, courage and inspiration.
The Language Movement initiated with the presentation of proposals by the then prominent student leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the meeting of the Youth League on 6-7 September 1947. He proposed, Bangla should be the medium of writing and the official language. Discussion and decision making regarding what should be the state language of Pakistan should be left to the people. At different stages of Language Movement especially in the formulation of the 21 point State Language Declaration by Rashtra Bhasha Sangrani Parishad - An Association for the struggle of the State Language (1947), leading procession demanding Bangla as the State Language, including the demand to make Bangla the state Language of Pakistan in the 10 Point Demand of East Pakistan Muslim League, signing the 8 Point Agreement with the Chief Minister of East Bangla, organizing meeting of students at Bat Tala (under the historic banyan tree) of Dhaka University (16 March 1948), the leadership and promptness of Bangabandhu was unparalleled. It can be said that he was one of the organizers, leading force and visionary of the Language Movement. It is to be remembered that at the culminating point of the Language Movement, Bangabandhu was locked in jail. But he was completely involved with this movement. From Jail he maintained active contact with the leaders of the movement and provided them with necessary advices and suggestions. It is under his leadership that all the movements of post Forty-Seven were directed. It is he who is the organizer of the Movement for Independence, announcer of Independence, Father of the Nation and the greatest Bangali in the recorded history of thousand years. He has re-introduced Bangla afresh to the world by giving speech in Bangla in the United Nations. Later on. Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina followed the footsteps of her father. Her love for the Mother Language is beyond question. She has set up unparalleled example by realizing the promise of establishing the use of our mother language Bangla in all spheres of scholarship.
It is our wish that no other nation should face the plight of bloody sacrifice that the Bangali nation experienced in preserving their mother tongue, culture and uniqueness. But how that can be possible? Many of us has given a thought about this matter in a localized way. Their wish is certainly praise worthy. This feeling and effort gradually spread beyond the borders of the country. A multilingual and multinational organization. The Mother Language Lovers of the World was inspired like us. Ten prominent personalities of seven languages were involved with this organization. There were two Bangali among them - the freedom fighters Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam. On behalf of this organization, Salam wrote a letter on 29 March 1998 to the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi A. Anan referring to the unprecedented sacrifice of the Bangali Nation in preserving the dignity of their mother tongue. He mentioned in his letter that mother tongues of different nations and communities of the present world are endangered. If 21 February could be declared the International Mother Language Day like other Days of the United Nations, this precedent would inspire to the preservation and promotion of all mother languages of the world. A year passed after sending that letter. No reply came. In the meantime, Rafiqul Islam came to know that Board members of UNESCO should be interested to a proposal like this and that such a proposal should come through the member states. Without any delay he informed the Education Ministry of the Government of Bangladesh that the proposal to declare 21 February the International Mother Language Day should reach UNESCO Headquarters by 10 September 1999. At that time the daughter of Bangabandhu, Sheikh Hasina was the head of the Government. The then minister for Education A.S H.K. Sadek understood that this task could not be accomplished so fast following normal administrative procedure. In this situation the Honorable Prime Minister was the only hope. Her prompt decision helped the breach the red tape. The proposal was sent to the UNESCO Headquarters on 9 September 1999. It was raised in the 157th session of the Executives Council of and the 30th General session of UNESCO. Director-General of UNESCO announced, “The Proposal for International Mother Language Day will be accepted, and it will be raised in the 160th Session the Board of Directors." The proposal of Bangladesh got a unanimous support and with which the long cherished aspiration of the Bangla speaker materialized (17 November 1999). The proposal was passed to celebrate 21 February as the International Mother Language Day commemorating the sacrifice of the brave sons of Bangladesh who laid down their lives for the protection of their Mother Tongue in 1952. In fact, laying down of lives to establish the right of Mother tongue is quite a rare precedent in the history of the world. The Bangali nation created that example. And by preserving the glory of our mother tongue among all linguistic communities and creating inspiration by spreading that sprit, Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina created a superlative example. She is indeed one or the mother Language lover statesman of the present-day world.
When 21 February was declared the International Mother Language Day, a rare excitement was created among the people of the country. On this occasion a meeting was organized at the Paltan Ground on 7 December 1999. The Chief Guest of the meeting was the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At the presence of a huge crowd, she announced ‘International Mother Language Institute’ will be established in Dhaka for the preservation and promotion of the developing and endangered languages of the world and research on language related aspects. Today’s International Mother Language Institute is the outcome of that declaration. The main objective of this institute is to work as one of the epicenters of language related research work in the world.
Everyone has the right to gather knowledge in their mother language. But the reality is not that much inspiring. If we check, we can see that only a few languages are being used as the medium of gathering knowledge. Bangla is also lagging in this respect. The main reason is that the penetration of Bangla in the field of information technology is not that much mentionable considering many other languages. If this challenge cannot be overcome, Bangla will not be valued in the world. The governments, scientists and linguists of the world are working to attain that goal. Very soon there will be qualitative change of this situation. That day is not far away when all kinds of creative activities of the information technology will be performed in Bangla. Then fame of Bangla will also increase.
International Mother Language Institute is one of the leading institutes of the country dedicated to the preservation and promotion of mother languages. Honorable Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of this institute at Segunbagi-cha, Dhaka in 15 March 2001. On that day the then Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi A. Anan was present with her. Construction of the Institute building started on 6 May 2003. But it was not completed as per our desire. The construction was suspended in 2003. At last the construction work of the 1st phase of the project was completed in 2010. The Honorable PM Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the newly constructed Institute building on the International Mother Language Day 2010.
Since its establishment, the Institute has been organizing the celebration of International Mother Language Day, national and international seminars as well as language and culture related programs. Research journals in Bangla and English are being published from this institute. Linguists from home and abroad contribute in these journals regularly. In the meantime, the research work titled Ethno-Linguistic Survey of Bangladesh has been conducted and its reports are going to be published gradually.
A representative team of UNESCO visited the International Mother Language Institute when request letter was forwarded to recognize the Institute as a UNESCO Category 2 Institute as per Inter-Ministerial meeting of the Government. As per the recommendation of the representative team, the Institute received the status of a UNESCO Category 2 Institute. In the agreement signed with UNECSO in this regard, two matters were given especial emphasis: a) Offering support in the development of mother languages and mother tongue-based education and b) Preservation and promotion of the mother languages of the world for the development of multilingual education.
The inspiration that was inherent in the immortal Language Movement has now received a realistic shape. Practice of Bangla language is gradually spreading outside the country. Department of Bangla is being opened in famous universities throughout the world. Interest to learn Bangla outside the country is also swelling. The trend will increase in the days to come. This world will get to know Bangla language and Bangali nation in a new light. It is the wealth of Bangla that will establish the prominence of this language in the world arena. Q
Translation : The writer himself