Bangladesh and Global Studies · Class 9-10 · Chapter 1 · Section 1.1
The Language Movement, and where Bengali nationalism begins.
Pakistan was founded on religion. Within four years of the founding it became clear that a shared religion does not mean a shared language, and out of that one difference a road twenty three years long began. This note is about the first step of it.
1. The arithmetic at the start
On 14 August 1947 Pakistan came into being as two geographically separate parts, East Bengal and West Pakistan, with about 1,600 kilometres of India between them. Roughly 56 per cent of Pakistan's population were the Bengalis of East Bengal, whose mother tongue was Bangla. Yet the language proposed as the state language was Urdu, which was then the mother tongue of a small minority of Pakistan's people.
That mismatch is the argument of the movement, and the argument was democratic from the start: it makes no sense to leave out the language of most of the state's citizens and make a minority's language the only state language. Note that East Bengal was much the smaller in area; the figure is about people, not land.
milestonestap any date
Five years of the Language Movement
Partition, and Pakistan. British India was divided and Pakistan came into being in two parts, with East Bengal as one of its provinces. Why it matters: most of the population was in the east and the centre of power was in the west. That mismatch is the root of every dispute that follows.
Tamaddun Majlish. A cultural organisation founded on the initiative of Professor Abul Kasem of Dhaka University. That same September they published a pamphlet, “The state language of Pakistan: Bangla or Urdu?” Why it matters: the demand took a written and reasoned form for the first time.
The education conference at Karachi. The central government's national education conference recommended Urdu as the sole state language. Students and teachers marched in Dhaka against it. Why it matters: this was the first formal collision.
Dhirendranath Datta in the Constituent Assembly. At the session of the Constituent Assembly in Karachi, Dhirendranath Datta, a member from East Bengal, moved that Bangla should be a working language of the assembly alongside Urdu and English. The motion was rejected. Why it matters: the first parliamentary form of the demand.
The strike of 11 March. A general strike across East Bengal called by the State Language Action Committee, with picketing at the secretariat and elsewhere, arrests and baton charges. The day came to be observed as Bangla Language Demand Day. On 15 March the government made an eight point agreement with the student leaders and the movement paused.
Jinnah's declaration. At a public meeting at the Race Course on 21 March, and at the Dhaka University convocation in Curzon Hall on the 24th, Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared that Urdu alone would be the state language of Pakistan. The students in Curzon Hall protested there and then. Why it matters: the demand turned from a cultural one into a political conflict.
Nazimuddin repeats it. At the Paltan Maidan in Dhaka the prime minister of the day, Khwaja Nazimuddin, again declared that Urdu would be the state language. A student strike followed on 30 January, and on the 31st the All Party Central State Language Action Committee was formed, which called a strike and demonstrations across the province for 21 February.
Section 144, and the 21st of February. On 20 February the government imposed Section 144 in Dhaka for a month. The next day the meeting at the Amtala decided to break it; the police used batons and tear gas, and in the afternoon they fired. Rafiq Uddin Ahmad, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar were killed; Abdus Salam was gravely wounded and died later.
Recognition. Under the pressure of the movement the government gave way. Article 214 of Pakistan's first constitution granted the status of state language to both Bangla and Urdu. Why it matters: the movement had succeeded, and a question remained. The language was settled; was the inequality?
2. The Dhaka of the 21st
In a textbook the 21st of February is an abstract day. It was also a place, and the whole of it happened within a few hundred yards of the Ramna area of Dhaka. From the university to the medical college hostel is a walk of a few minutes.
A definition is needed here. Section 144 is the provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure under which an executive magistrate can forbid assembly in an area. It was imposed in Dhaka on 20 February for a month, which made a gathering of four or more, a procession, or a meeting unlawful.
where things happenedtap the numbers
The Dhaka of the 21st
Dhaka University, the Amtala. On the morning of 21 February the students met in the arts faculty grounds, with Gaziul Haque in the chair. After a long argument they decided to break Section 144, but in small groups of ten.
Curzon Hall. Here, at the Dhaka University convocation on 24 March 1948, when Jinnah declared Urdu the sole state language, the students protested on the spot.
The Dhaka Medical College hostel. The police first used batons and tear gas on the students who came out against Section 144, and in the afternoon fired near the hostel. Rafiq Uddin Ahmad, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar were killed; Abdus Salam was gravely wounded and died later.
The first Shaheed Minar. On the night of 22 and 23 February the medical college students gathered bricks and sand themselves and raised the monument in the hostel grounds. On 26 February the police pulled it down.
The East Bengal provincial assembly. The provincial assembly was sitting nearby that day. When word of the shooting reached it, several members protested in the chamber.
Section 144. This is not one place, which is why the whole area is ringed in the drawing. The government imposed it in Dhaka on 20 February for a month, forbidding any gathering of four or more, any procession and any meeting.
All of them seen. Notice that the meeting, the breaking of the order, the shooting and the monument all happened within forty eight hours, in one neighbourhood.
The drawing is stylised, and follows neither scale nor direction; its job is to show how close these places were to one another.
Now the day hour by hour. One thing has to be said first, because it is the most misunderstood part. “A procession against Section 144” makes people picture a march of thousands. The decision was the opposite of that, a decision to reduce the risk. The times differ a little between sources, so take those below as approximate.
step by stepgo to the next step
The 21st of February, hour by hour
Morning, about 8 to 9. Although Section 144 was in force, students began gathering in the grounds of the arts faculty of Dhaka University.
Late morning, about 11. The meeting at the Amtala began, with Gaziul Haque in the chair. There was one question: obey Section 144, or break it? Opinion was divided.
Midday, about 12. They decided to break the order, but not with a big march. They would go out through the gate in groups of ten, so that no one would die in a crush.
Afternoon. Each group was arrested as it came out, with baton charges and tear gas. The students moved towards the medical college hostel, and the crowd there grew.
Later afternoon. The police fired near the hostel. Rafiq, Barkat and Jabbar were killed; Salam was wounded and died later. The news went round the city that night, and the next day's march was larger still.
The next day, 22 February, there was firing again at the funeral prayers and the procession for the dead; Shafiur Rahman and several others were killed. By then the movement had spread out of Dhaka into the district towns.
check yourself
One question
What method did the students choose on 21 February 1952 for breaking Section 144?
This is precisely what they decided to avoid. A big march meant a crush and the risk of deaths, so they went out in small groups.
Right. The meeting at the Amtala decided to break Section 144, but to avoid the risk of a large march they went out through the gate in groups of ten. The police arrested each group as it came.
They gathered in daylight and in the open. Done in secret, breaking the order would have lost its meaning as a protest.
A strike had been called, but the question is about the method of breaking Section 144, and that cannot be done indoors.
3. Who did what
The commonest mistake in an examination is mixing up the names and the organisations, especially the two action committees. The State Language Action Committee of 1948 and the All Party Central State Language Action Committee of 1952 are not the same body, and they did different things.
names and bodiestap a name
Who played what part
1947. A professor at Dhaka University; he founded Tamaddun Majlish and led the publication of the first pamphlet, “The state language of Pakistan: Bangla or Urdu?”
1948. On 25 February he moved in the Constituent Assembly that Bangla be a working language. The motion was rejected, but the demand had taken parliamentary form for the first time.
1947. A cultural organisation founded on 2 September; it gave the language demand its first written and reasoned form.
1948. The State Language Action Committee, which called the general strike of 11 March. Do not confuse it with the committee of 1952.
1952. The All Party Central State Language Action Committee, formed on 31 January with Qazi Golam Mahboob as convener. It announced the programme for 21 February.
1948. On 21 and 24 March in Dhaka he declared that Urdu alone would be the state language of Pakistan.
1952. On 26 January at the Paltan Maidan he repeated the same declaration. The movement took its final shape immediately afterwards.
1952. He chaired the students' meeting at the Amtala on 21 February, where the decision to break Section 144 was taken.
1952. They were killed by police fire on 21 February, and the day is remembered in their names. Abdus Salam was gravely wounded and died later.
1957 to 1963. The designer of the present central Shaheed Minar, with the sculptor Novera Ahmed. Building began in 1957 and it opened in 1963.
All ten seen. Notice that the two action committees belong to different years: the one of 1948 called the strike, the one of 1952 set the programme for 21 February.
4. Recognition, and what remained
Under the pressure of the movement the government gave way. In the constitution of 1956, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 29 February and in force from 23 March, Article 214 granted the status of state language to both Bangla and Urdu. The constitution of 1962 kept that recognition.
International recognition came much later. On 17 November 1999 the general conference of UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day, and it has been observed around the world since 2000.
Now to the real question of this note: how does a demand about language become the beginning of a nationalism? Pakistan had been founded on the two nation theory, which rested on religion. The Language Movement showed that a shared religion does not mean a shared language, a shared culture or shared economic interests. For the first time a Bengali learned to think of himself not as a Pakistani Muslim but as a Bengali, and that understanding is the foundation of every movement that follows.
check yourself
Another question
In which constitution of Pakistan, and in what year, was Bangla recognised as a state language?
The Act of 1947 arranged the partition; the question of a state language had not yet been raised.
Right. Article 214 of Pakistan's first constitution, adopted in 1956, recognised both Bangla and Urdu as state languages.
The 1962 constitution kept the recognition, but it was the 1956 one that gave it. The question asks where it came from first.
The Legal Framework Order set the terms of the 1970 election; it was not about language.
The results of the movement can be set out in order too, and doing so shows that they were not only about language. One, a Bengali sense of self. Two, the students coming to the front of political life. Three, the first of the twenty one points of the United Front in 1954 was to make Bangla a state language. Four, a culture of songs, poems and anthologies around the 21st of February. And five, constitutional recognition in 1956.
check yourself
Last question
About 56 per cent of Pakistan's population were Bengalis. How does that strengthen the argument of the Language Movement?
East Bengal was much the smaller in area. The figure is about people, not land, and so is the argument.
Right. The argument of the movement was a democratic one: it makes no sense to leave out the language of most of the citizens and make a minority's language the only state language.
Which language is hard and which is easy was never the argument. The argument was about who speaks which language.
The figure has nothing to do with literacy. It is a proportion of the population and nothing more.
At a glance
1947. Pakistan on 14 August; Tamaddun Majlish and the pamphlet on 2 September; the Karachi education conference recommending Urdu in December.
1948. Dhirendranath Datta's motion on 25 February; the strike on 11 March; Jinnah's declaration on 21 and 24 March.
1952. Nazimuddin's declaration on 26 January; the all party committee on the 31st; Section 144 on 20 February; the shooting and the deaths on the 21st; the first Shaheed Minar on the night of the 22nd and 23rd, pulled down on the 26th.
1956 and 1999. Article 214 of the constitution made both Bangla and Urdu state languages; and on 17 November 1999 UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day.
cut from the notetap a card to turn it
Cards for the dates
Date2 September 1947
AnswerTamaddun Majlish was founded, on the initiative of Professor Abul Kasem.
Date25 February 1948
AnswerDhirendranath Datta's motion for Bangla in the Constituent Assembly, which was rejected.
Date11 March 1948
AnswerA strike across the province; the day is Bangla Language Demand Day.
Date21 March 1948
AnswerJinnah's declaration at the Race Course: Urdu alone as state language.
Date26 January 1952
AnswerKhwaja Nazimuddin's repetition of the same declaration at the Paltan Maidan.
Date20 February 1952
AnswerSection 144 imposed in Dhaka for one month.
Date26 February 1952
AnswerThe police pulled down the first Shaheed Minar.
Date17 November 1999
AnswerUNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day.