– So far as ethnicity is concerned, Bangladesh is a nation state. The
vast majority of population (about 98%) is the Bengali. The country was
founded on the basis of Bengali nationalism whose soul is the Bengali
language.
When the very existence of this language was threatened with
extinction by the foreign rulers, it called for self-rule. The demand
extended. The birth of Bangladesh became inevitable when Bengali
language aspired to a state of its own. So, the history of the emergence
of Bangladesh is the history of an epic struggle moving through a long
and rugged way from autonomy to independence. And the seeds of that
autonomy were sown in the mind of the Bengali folks primarily on
question of language. They felt, for the first time, the urgency of home
rule when their mother tongue fell a victim of an unprovoked attack by
the Pakistan rulers, right after the division of India (1947). The
so-called ‘Two-nation theory’ had already started taking its toll on
liberal Bengali people and their secular cultures. The people of East
Bengal could realize that they would need to make amends for the
historical blunder of the Indian subcontinent committed by opportunist
Jinnah, egoistic Nehru, helpless Gandhi, and crafty British rulers. This
crude awakening led them first to the road to autonomy and then to
independence.
It was one of the costliest mistakes in human history to divide
a country merely on the grounds of religious affiliation where people
regardless of castes, creeds, and religions had been united under an
anti-British umbrella. Post-division India could have been one of the
world’s biggest lands of the wide variety of people. There would have
been greater diversity and choice in socio-economic and political life.
This is called ‘unity in diversity’. The cultivation of this kind of
holistic approach to religion could have played a highly effective role
in the troubled Indian subcontinent where religious extremism rules the
roost and mutual respect is held hostage by religious fundamentalism and
militancy. But the vested quarters had separated one from the other by a
preposterous religio-political surgery which has perpetuated ethnic
disharmony and racial tension in the entire subcontinent.
As a matter of fact, the ‘Two-nation theory’ proved abortive
almost immediately after implementation. The true character of the
self-styled guardians of Islam was unmasked. The West Pakistan rulers
felt themselves sanctimonious and assumed a Big Brotherly and a
holier-than-thou attitude towards the East Pakistanis. They unleashed
the big stick upon them. Despite the sameness of religious identity, no
other affinities could develop between the West and the East Pakistanis.
In addition, the ‘neo-champions of Islam’ thought a language like
Bengali which was originated from and developed through ‘non-Islamic
sources and influences’ was not worthy of being the official language of
a newly emerged ‘holy place’ called Pakistan (Pak–holy and
Stan–place).They also thought that on having been a part of the ‘holy
place’, the then Indian province ‘East Bengal’ needed to be renamed and
considerably sanctified. They renamed it as ‘East Pakistan’ and tried to
make Urdu its official language.
Although Urdu is an Indian language, and a standardized form of
Hindi, it is written in Arabic script, and used by the Indian and
Pakistani Muslims. So, they consider it holier than Bengali which was
originated from a vulgar dialect of India, and nurtured by the Buddhist
and Hindu monks over the centuries. This was at the back of the mind of
those so-called Pakistan neo-custodians of Islam. So, they planned to
make Urdu the official language of Pakistan, and did not give a damn
about Bengali, although Bengali was used by the majority of the people
of entire Pakistan.
But all their efforts came badly unstuck. Bengali language is the
lifeblood of the Bengali people. They prefer death to dishonour of
their mother-tongue. They are happy with their own sweet language. Even
the Nobel Prize was won in their literature. So, they do not bother
about whether or not their language is sacred. When Jinnah, the Governor
General of Pakistan made the declaration at Dhaka University Curzon
Hall that Urdu and Urdu alone would be the official language of
Pakistan, the agitated audience threw a straight ‘no’ at him. Even then
the rulers did not see sense and abandon the unworkable policy.The people of East Bengal came to realize that their language and literature, society and culture, politics and economy – all of their life and heritage, were not in safe hands. They discovered that the Pakistani rulers under the guise of religious fraternity are snakes in the grass. It was no go asking them for rights to language. So, they put up the line of active resistance .The Government tried to suppress it with iron hands. This fanned the flame of fight. There came 21st February (1952). Innocent blood was spilt in the resistance. But there was no holding the Bengali. They had learnt to die for their mother-tongue. The public defiance gained momentum. Martial law was let loose to put a curb on the popular movement. But all repressive Government measures were in vain.
People came up with historic ‘Six-points’ (1966), which amounted to full autonomy for East Bengal. The autonomy movement became so intense that the ruling Government was compelled to hold a general election (1970).The Bengali won a landslide victory. But the rulers were not willing to give up so easily. They shot their last bolt. Operation Searchlight (March 25, 1971) was launched. The Bengalis were at the point of no return. They already had their back to the wall. So, they decided to fight it out. And they fought to a finish, and seized their most prized possession, their Independence, in exchange for a sea of blood.
If the independence of Bangladesh (1971) compares with the fruit of a tree, the trunk of the tree is the 24-year struggle for autonomy, and the root is the language movement (1952).The history of Bangladesh is the history of the whole tree, from the root to the fruit. If we want to enjoy the fruit of our liberty, we have to take care of the whole tree, and the ground where it is planted. As Rig Veda puts it: “One should respect his motherland, his country, and his mother-tongue—because these are givers of happiness”. We can never be happy in the true sense of the term without loving this national trinity—Bangladesh, Bengali culture, and Bengali language.
——————————————————————————————————–
Dr. Rashid Asakari writes fiction and columns, and teaches English literature at Kushtia Islamic University, Bangladesh. Email: rashidaskari65@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment