21 February is a memorable day in Bangladesh's history.We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day.This day is a national holiday.
On this day,we pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives to establish Bangla as a state language in undivided Pakistan in 1952.The struggle to archieve our language rights is known as the Language Movement.
The seed of the Language movement was sown on 21 March 1948 when Mohammad Ali Jinnah,the governer General of Pakistan,declared in a public meeting in Dhaka that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan.The declaration continued non-stop,gathering momentum day by day.It turned into a movement and reached its climac in 1952.The government outwald all sorts of public meeting and rallies to stop it.
The students of Dhaka University defied the law and brought out a peaceful protest procession on 21 February 1952.When the procession reached near Dhaka Medical College,the police opened fire on the students.killing Salam,Rafiq,Barkat and Jabbar.As a result,there were mass protests all over the country and the government had to declare Bangla as a state language.This kindled the sparks of independence movement of Bangladesh.
21 February is observed as Shahhed Dibosh every year throughout the country in remembrance of the martyrs of language movement of 1952.The comme-supreme sacrifices of our language martyrs.Preople wear black badges and go to the Shaheed Minar in barefoot processions,singing mourning songs.They place wreaths at the Minar.Many of them visit the graves of the martyrs at Azimpur graveyard and pray for them.They also attend various programmes organised in remembrance of the language martyrs.
The UNESCO on 17 November in 1999 proclaimed February 21 as the International Mother Language Day in recognition of the sacrifices of the martyrs for the rightful plce of Bangla.Two Bangladeshi expartiates living in Vancouver in Canada,Raqif Islam and Abdus Salam,sent a proposal to Kofi Anan,the then secratary General of United Nations.They requested him to declare 21st February as The International Mother Language Day.They added that the declaration will honour and save all extinct languages of the world.As per their logical expextations Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the took promt initiative by sending formal proposal to UNESCO.Finally,on 17 November 1999,UNESCO declared 21st February as the International Mother Language Day.The day is now annually observed worldwide to promote awarness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.