Come February

Come February, we Bengalis start talking about our language movement. We never forget to show respect to our martyrs. They are remembered because seeds of Bengali nationalism and freedom were sown at that time. Consequently, Bangladesh became an independent country.

However, while recalling the contribution of language martyrs of Dhaka, we often forget a few others in the neighbouring country where people died for Bengali.

On 19 May 1961, in Silchar, a small town of South Assam in North East India witnessed another fight for Bengali language and 11 persons died in police firing to protest against the imposition of Assamese on the Bengali-speaking people there as a state policy. The martyrs of 19 May gave their lives for the language and later the government had to back down.

On 21 July, 1986, in another momentous day in the struggle for Bengali language, two Bengalis gave their life in Karimganj, another small town in southern Assam, protesting against another attempt by the state government to impose Assamese on the local Bengali population. These two gave their lives when police opened fire on unarmed protesters.

There was a time when Bengalis acted as language-colonizers in Oriya. Oriya language movement was active between 1868 and 1870 in the Indian state of Orissa in the context of the colonial controversy over language policy between Orientalists, who claimed that vernacular languages were best for this purpose, and Anglicists, who favoured English. In the Orissa division, there were only seven Oriya schoolteachers; Bengalis formed the majority of teachers, even in remote areas. Consequently, Bengali books were prescribed textbooks for Oriya children. Emulating the Anglicists, the Bengalis made an effort to institutionalise Bengali medium education. After the Na’anka Famine in 1866, a resistance movement arose. It demanded that jobs be reserved for natives and that Oriya children read books in Oriya - and not Bengali. It succeeded in dislodging Bengali from controlling schools in 1870. This victory of the native Oriya over the neo-colonising Bengali can be interpreted as a victory for Orientalism.

In the nineteenth century, Finland witnessed the rise of not one but two national movements: Finnish-language nationalism and Swedish-language nationalism. The creation of the independent Finnish state in the twentieth century was made possible in large part by these nationalist movements.

Finnish-language nationalism arose in the nineteenth century, in part as a reaction against the dominance of the Swedish language in Finland's cultural and political life. The ethnic self-consciousness of Finnish speakers was given a considerable boost by the Russian conquest of Finland in 1809, because ending the connection with Sweden forced Finns to define themselves with respect to the Russians. At first, the Russian government generally supported Finnish linguistic nationalism, seeing it as a way to alienate the Finns from Sweden and thereby to preclude any movement toward reintegration. For the same reason, the Russians in 1812 moved the capital of Finland from Turku to Helsinki, bringing it closer to St. Petersburg. Similarly, after a catastrophic fire in Turku, the University of Turku was moved to Helsinki in 1827. The University of Helsinki soon became the centre of the Finnish nationalist movement.

Finnish-language nationalism, or the Fennoman movement, became the most powerful political force in nineteenth-century Finland. A famous phrase of uncertain origin that was coined in the early nineteenth century summed up Finnish feelings as follows: "We are no longer Swedes; we cannot become Russians; we must be Finns."

So, when we Bengalis observe the contribution of our martyrs in our nationalistic movement, to my mind, we need to talk about other language movements around the world.

This is how we would be doing justice to our day, 21 February, which has become the International Mother Language Day.

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Having said that, we must mention that there many adivasi languages in Bangladesh. There are at least 49 adivasi communities in the country who have distinct cultures and languages. It's a great regret that we never mention those languages when we recall our martyrs and glorify Bengali language.

Twenty-first February, in the present-day scenario, doesn't only belong to Bengali only. The day has become global; every head of state who meets our head of state says they are proud to have an international day for mother language. Given this fact, we have an added responsibility: to uphold the indigenous languages in Bangladesh.

It's an unfortunate fact that the adivasi people don't have their literature in their languages. A UNDP project a few years ago had tried to compile a dictionary by gathering all adivasi words in Chittagong Hill Tracts. If this could be done, it would be a wonderful feather on 21 February's crown. Just imagine the Santals speak their language, but they don't have any written on the paper.

Let's talk about it when we lionize Bengali language.

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Talking about a dictionary, thought of Ekushey boi mela pops up. Undoubtedly, the boi mela is one of the most progressive events in our national life. However, the whole focus on Dhaka makes one a little dismal. Last year, it was said that initiatives would be taken to spread the mela in divisional level. That has not happened although the news of a month-long boi mela in Khulna has caught people attention. Thanks to organizers of Khulna boi mela. Of course, there are a few districts where boi mela is being held, but the news of the events don't reach Dhaka very often.

The impact of spreading the mela across Bangladesh would be immense, especially on children and young people. In the wake of entertainment media boom, boi mela may bring back the reading habit among the people. In the fast-moving, cut-throat, mechanical life, people are losing on their aesthetic bliss they used to get in books. Boi melas in all 64 districts would play a great role in advancement of Bengali culture and language. And why would we deprive the people who live across the country; they may not have enough time and resources to come to Dhaka and attend the mela at Bangla Academy!

And think of the book market across the country. Melas in all districts will have a huge impact on Bangladesh's publication industry. The same publisher who is selling books at Dhaka mela can also have stalls outside Dhaka. The publishers who fail to get a stall in Dhaka would have one, say, in Chittagong! And there will be many new publishers at the district level when we have this mela across the country.

This is one thing we would surely benefit from. Let's go for it.