Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged all Bengalis living abroad to mobilise global opinion to make Bangla an official language of the United Nations.
She made appeal while inaugurating a four-day seminar at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka on Friday, the International Mother Language Day.
Hasina also recalled those who had died for the cause their mother language on Feb 21, 1952, the day the UNESCO recognised as the International Mother Language Day on Nov 17, 1999.
“We’ve to continue the use of the mother language and protect it. Nothing is possible without it,” she said stressing the need to extensively use Bangla in all spheres of life.Urging the Bangladeshis living abroad to join a government efforts to make Bangla one of the official languages of the UN, she said, “Aamar Ekushey is now a familiar day and inspiration to all those who speak in their mother languages. We want to spread Bangla across the world.”
Back on Feb 21, 1952, students and the common people of Dhaka took to the streets in protest against the then Pakistani government’s denial of the national language status to Bangla and the imposition of Urdu as the sole official language of Pakistan.
Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar and a few others were killed in police firings on this day in 1952, when students emerged in a procession from the Dhaka University campus, breaching Section 144 to press home their demand for the recognition of Bangla as a state language of the then Pakistan.
The Pakistan government was ultimately compelled to incorporate an article in the Constitution on Feb 29 in 1956 that declared ‘the state language of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali’.
The protest sparked on Feb 21, 1952 gradually snowballed into a long-drawn struggle that eventually led to the birth of sovereign Bangladesh in 1971.
Referring to the making of Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day, Hasina said that some ordinary Bengalis living in Canada had in 1998 written to Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the UN, requesting him to accord the day the status.
The then Awami League government was also in touch with the UN, she said.
On Nov 17, 1999, the UNESCO declared Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day.
Since then, 193 countries across the world observe the day to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual education, and raise awareness about cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.
“The teaching, spirits/thoughts and inspiration of February 21 have now spread worldwide. People speaking in their mother languages are now inspired to protect them. This will help in removing the tendency of establishing nation-based or language-based domination from the world. The endangered languages of the world will get a fresh lease of life.”
The Prime Minister said that balanced development and progress cannot be achieved until all the people of the country were brought into the mainstream.
She said the government had already taken steps to enable the children of the ethnic minority communities to have their primary education in their own language, she said.
“With united effort, we can uphold the Bangla language at the international level. I can only tell you that I’m always with you.”
Hasina said a language really reveals its power when it is used in the fields of science and technology. “This practice has already started in Bangladesh.”
With Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid in the chair, the function was addressed by Education Secretary Mohammad Sadik and Director General of International Mother Language Institute Dr Jinat Imtiaz Ali. – bdnews24.com
