International Mother Language Day – 21st February: "The most potent instruments for maintaining and enhancing our immaterial history are languages." — From the UN's International Mother Language Day blog.
Since the year 2000, the 21st of February has been designated as International Mother Language Day. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established it in order to encourage linguistic and cultural variety as well as multilingualism.
The idea for commemorating this day originated in Bangladesh, where the 21st of February marks the anniversary of the country's people fighting for the recognition of the Bengali (Bangla) language. To commemorate the day, people in Bangladesh still place flowers at the Shaheed Minar (Martyr's Monument).
Today International Mother language Day. Seventy years ago, on 21st February, 1952, We (Bengali)established our right to communicate in our mother-tongue at the cost of our own blood. In Dhaka university in a program, the president of Pakistan declared that “Urdu shall be the only state language of Pakistan”
Students straight away protested and Salam, BorkotRafique and many more were shot dead by the police. When the news spread hundreds of people gathered in the premises of Dhaka Medical College in the evening of February 21, 1952, when they heard that a student was shot dead by a police officer. There were many people among them who didn’t give their consent for the language movement, and yet they came that day engaging themselves with the movement for their empathy and compassion towards the students.
The selfless sacrificing act of the students for their mother tongue spread throughout the nation including the villages, towns and cities, not just Dhaka itself. And the slogan, ‘We want Bengali as our national language in every stage in every level of our lives.’ became popular, along with a lot other. And the overall movement for our national language caused a dramatic turn for our literature, our culture and also our politics.
You may know Bengal was colonised by British in 1756 after two hundred years when British left us Bengal divided in two country’s west Bengal and east Bengal. East Bengal became part of the Pakistan west Bengal remain with India. After 25 years of Pakistani rules we got freedom in 1971.
21st February is celebrated as International Mother Language Day. Currently, around 175 countries celebrate this day by singing the song “Amar bhaierRokteRangano, Ekushey February”
This certainly is an amazing achievement for the Bengali language.
International Mother Language Day is celebrated in memory of the four students who were killed while fighting for their mother language and is celebrated to tell them that we will never forget their sacrifices.
