Today is February 21. This glorious 21, a fertile source of consciousness for our Bengali nation, can never be forgotten. Twenty-one is a glorious day in our nationhood and national history, the first milestone of Bangladesh's independence. Twenty-one is our national pride. This day is now not only our language martyr's day but also International Mother Language Day. I did not know that anyone had to give his life for the language in any part of the world to establish his mother tongue. But we have had to get our mother tongue Bengali in exchange for the blood of our Bengalis. That is why UNESCO has honored this ‘Immortal 21 February’ of Bengali, the pain, with respect, as International Mother Language Day. Therefore, November 17, 1999, is a historically glorious and joyous day in the life of the Bengali nation. On this day, Bengali gained universal recognition of its favorite mother tongue. This rare honor given by UNESCO is a great achievement of Bengalis as well as a great recognition of the self-sacrifice of our great language martyrs. Rafiq, Salam, Barkat, Jabbar, Safiur, and many others were died for the language on February 21, 1952. Their contribution in building our nationhood and establishing the existence of today's independent Bangladesh will be forever remembered. The people of East Bengal (present Bangladesh) were able to establish Bengali as a state language because they sacrificed their lives for the language that day. Mother Tongue Day is celebrated with due dignity in 188 countries of the world every year. Every year this day is observed with due dignity in our country, commemorating all the martyrs who gave their lives to establish the Bengali language. From 1953 to 1999, the Bengali nation observed the day as National Martyrs Day to commemorate their departure. But February 21, 2000, is a unique day, the day on which International Mother Language Day is celebrated in 188 countries around the world. Every Bengali now shares this glory. Bengali our spoken language, has now crossed the borders of the country and entered the world.
The incident that took place on 21st February 1952 made the heart bloody of every Bengali. The state of Pakistan was formed on 14 August 1947 based on biracial theory. Muslims were the majority in East Bengal. Therefore, East Bengal was included in Pakistan. Extreme contempt for the Bengali language and Bengali culture led to the subjugation of the Bengali nation on that day, with dire consequences. To keep the people of this part seated, they decided to destroy the Bengali language and culture and devised a blueprint to impose Pakistani culture on the Bengalis. The President of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah came to Dhaka and declared that 'Urdu and Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan'. But the student youths of this country started chanting slogans against him at that rally. The language of protest and its prevalence continues to grow. Then the Pakistani government tried to suppress all the protests by brutal force. The people of this country embarked on an uncompromising struggle against their one-sided decision. The young boys of this country take a thunderous oath to protect the dignity of their mother tongue. The historical language movement spread all over East Bengal(present Bangladesh) . The students and youth of this country came to the forefront of the movement. Protest meetings and processions were announced on 21 February 1952. To deal with the situation, the then government-issued Section 144. But the students of Dhaka University marched in violation of Section 144 demanding the dignity of their mother tongue Bengali. At that time, the police fired indiscriminately on the students. Many students were died. Many were also injured. Within moments, word of this heinous murder spread throughout the country and people at all levels of East Pakistan (Present Bangladesh) were outraged. The terrified government was eventually forced to recognize Bengali as the state language. As a result, our mother tongue Bengali was saved from extinction.
Since 1953, February 21 has been celebrated as a great national day in our country (then East Pakistan) and abroad in India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and elsewhere where there are enough Bengalis. November 17, 1999, was the day of another victory of the Bengalis. At the Paris meeting that day, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day. The 188 member states of the United Nations have decided to observe this day every year as International Mother Language Day. This decision greatly enhanced the status of the Bengali language. The Bengali language penetrated the international arena. The first to take part in declaring February 21 as International Mother Language Day were the ten members of the Canadian-based Mother Language Lovers of the World. Among them are two Filipinos, two English speakers, one Cantonese speaker, one Kachi speaker, one German, one Hindi speaker, and two Bengali speakers.
With the proclamation of 21st February as the International Mother Language Day, the importance of all languages of the world has increased as the status of the Bengali language has increased. There are many languages in the world that are almost lost under the influence of big languages. Thanks to the celebration of International Mother Language Day around the world, those languages were saved from being lost. At the same time, all the nations of the world became aware of the need to protect the dignity of the mother tongue. Because 21st February is no longer limited to Bangladesh, 21st February is now universal.
বাংলা আমার অহংকার, আমি গর্বিত কারন আমি বাঙালি।
Bangla my arrogance, I'm proud because I am Bengalis.
