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6.Political
Development in Bangladesh
Language movement
is an important event in the history of Bengali nation. The movement reached
its climax in February 1952 and finally the demand of the state language was
achieved in 1956. Disagreement on what should be the national language of
Pakistan started before 1947. However, after the creation of the independent
state of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, the demand was raised to make Bengali one
of the languages of the Constituent Assembly and the state language. The
movement started on the demand of mother tongue. In order to suppress this
movement, the Muslim League government resorted to repression. Some Bengalis
had to give their lives on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd
of 1952 to establish the status of mother tongue Bengal. This movement was
formed on the demand of mother tongue is ‘Language Movement.
Background of the Language movement-
In 1 September
1947, under the leadership of the young professor Abul Kashem of Dhaka
University, the 3-member “Tamaddun Majlish” started the language movement.
Tamaddun Majlish was a cultural organization that played an important role in
the language movement. On February 25, 1948, the session of the Constituent
Assembly was held. In this session Nirendranath Dutta, a member of Constituent
Assembly elected from Comilla proposed to use Bengali as the language of
Constituent Assembly along with Urdu. Subsequently, Pakistan Prime Minister
Liaquat Ali Khan and East Bengal Chief Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin opposed this
proposal. In protest against this, the spirit of the language movement in the
minds of Bengalis assumed a strong shape.
The first
Governor General of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited East Bengal in the
third week of March 1948. On March 21, in a public meeting at the Race Course
Maidan, he said that ‘Pakistan’s national language will be Urdu and no other
language’. In the special convocation ceremony of Dhaka University on March 24,
he again emphasized that “Urdu and only Urdu will be the state language of
Pakistan.” The students present in the convocation meeting shouted ‘no’ and
‘no’ in protest of Jinnah’s announcement. 2. And it creates adverse reactions
in intellectual cireles.
On January 26,
1952, at the Dhaka session of the Nikhil Pakistan Muslim League and in a public
meeting at Paltan Maidan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Khawaja
Nazimuddin announced that Urdu would be the sole state language of Pakistan.
After this announcement, Bengalis became more vocal. Since then the language
movement has gained momentum. On February 22, 1952, the police opened fire on
the students as they broke up by 144. Rafiq, Shafiq, Barkat and many Others
were killed in police firing. After that, the movement of the students became
more intense.
The valiant Bengalis started struggling for
their mother tongue. Ultimately, in 1956, the people of East Bengal succeeded
in achieving Bengali as one of the state languages under the 1956 Pakistan
Constitution
Causes of Language Movement-
1. Centralization of power in the hands of
non-Bengali leaders: When the state of Pakistan was created in 1947, its
management power went to the hands of non-Bengalis. Pakistan’s Head of State
and Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Prime Minister Nawabzada Liaquat Ali
Khan were non-Bengalis. Non-Bengali ministers are given the responsibility of
the main mministries As a result, as political and economic power was
completely concentrated in the hands of non- Bengali leaders, the Bengali
people gradually became suspicious and resentful.
2. Neglect of Bengalis in the beginning: In
November 1947, the Bengali people noticed that Urdu language was being used in
addition to English in the offices and courts as well as postage stamps,
postcards, sweats, railway tickets etc. On November 15, 1947, nine languages
including Urdu, Hindi, English, German, French were allowed for a civil service
examination, but Bengali was excluded. In the beginning, this neglect and
neglect on the question of language hurt the minds of conscious Bengalis
3. Rejection of Dhirendranath Dutta’s proposal:
On February 23, 1948, Dhirendranath Dutta, a member of the Constituent Assembly
of the Congress, moved an amendment proposal to make Bengali the official
language of the Constituent Assembly along with English and Urdu. The people of
the whole country became angry as the government of Pakistan rejected this
proposal.
4. Writings of writers-literary-intellectuals:
Writers, literati, intellectuals have been demanding to make Bengali the state
language since the British period. These statements-statements-writings of
writers-literary-intellectuals make the Bengali people aware of their demands
and rights. As a result, language-based nationalism started to emerge among the
Bengali people.
5. Proposal to write Bengali in Arabic script:
The conspiracy of non-Bengali Pakistani rulers against Bengali language and culture
continued. Fazlur Rahman presented the proposal of writing Bengali in Arabic
script in the meeting of Education Advisory Board on 7 February 1949. Bengali
people became angry with such conspiracy against Bengali language.
6. Jinnah,s involvement: Governor General
Muhammad Ali Jinnah announced Urdu as the national language in a public meeting
at Dhaka’s Race Course Maidan on March 21, 1948. The Bengali people became
angry with Jinnah’s announcement.
7. Betrayal of Khwaja Nazimuddin: Although Khwaja
Nazimuddin was a son of the Nawab family of Dhaka, he was a non-Bengali. He
despised Bengali language and culture. Like Jinnah, he also believed that Urdu
should be the state language of Pakistan.
Six point
The Six-Point
Program was a set of important demands put forward by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on
February 12, 1966. These demands were about how the government in Bangladesh
should work and what powers different parts of the country should have.
Point No. 1: The
government should be like a team, and it should have two main parts: federal
and parliamentary. This means that there would be a central government and also
smaller governments in different parts of the country. People should be able to
directly vote for the people they want in these governments, and everyone who
can vote should be allowed to do so. The number of people in the central
government should be decided based on how many people live in each area.
Point No. 2: The
main central government should only handle certain things like protecting the
country and making decisions about other countries. Other things like money and
currency should be handled in a different way.
Point No. 3:
There should be two separate types of money in the different parts of the
country, or maybe just one type of money, but there has to be a plan to make
sure that money doesn't move too much from one place to another. This is
important to keep the money balanced between the different parts of the
country.
Point No. 4: Each
smaller government in different parts of the country should be in charge of
deciding about money and taxes for their area. The central government should
get enough money for protecting the country and dealing with other countries.
This way, each part of the country can control its own money, and the central
government gets what it needs too.
Point No. 5:
There should be special rules about how each part of the country can use the
money they get from trade and other countries. The central government can use
some money, but each smaller government should have the power to use their
money in a certain way.
Point No. 6: Each
smaller government should be allowed to have a special group of people who can
help with protecting the country. This group can help make sure the country is
safe and secure.
So, the Six-Point
Program had these six important demands that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to
see in the way the government worked in Bangladesh. These demands were about
how power, money, and decisions should be shared between the central government
and the smaller governments in different parts of the country.
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