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<div id="gmail-topTooltip-medium" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"><aside class="gmail-tooltip gmail-topTooltip gmail-appear-at-top"><a href="https://www.ozy.com/flashback" class="gmail-tag gmail-inherit-colour"><span></span><div class="gmail-sleeve"><div style="display:none"><h2 class="gmail-inherit-fc"></h2><p></p><p class="gmail-read-more gmail-inherit-fc"></p></div></div></a></aside></div><div id="gmail-topTooltip-large" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"></div><div id="gmail-topHeading-desktop" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"></div><div id="gmail-topHeading-medium" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"><h1 class="gmail-topHeading">When Bangladesh Went to War Over Language</h1></div><div id="gmail-topByline-medium" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"><p class="gmail-topByline gmail-byline"><span class="gmail-author">By Anirban Mahapatra<time datetime="2018-05-04"><span> • MAY 04 2018</span></time></span></p></div><div id="gmail-topHeading-large" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"></div><div id="gmail-topByline-large" class="gmail-skrollable gmail-skrollable-before" style="opacity:1"></div><div class="gmail-author-section" style=""><div class="gmail-share-block"><br><ul><li class="gmail-tooltip"><span><div class="gmail-sleeve"><div style="display:none"><p></p><input id="gmail-articleID" value="https://www.ozy.com/flashback/when-bangladesh-went-to-war-over-language/85912" type="text"></div></div></span></li></ul></div></div><div class="gmail-top gmail-top-atw gmail-loaded"><div class="gmail-top-sleeve gmail-container"><div class="gmail-meta-desktop gmail-container gmail-full-width"><div class="gmail-sleeve gmail-loaded"><div class="gmail-headings-wrapper gmail-c8-bc"><div class="gmail-why-care"><h2 class="gmail-c8-fc">Why you should care</h2><p>Because language meant destiny for this South Asian nation.</p></div></div><div class="gmail-world-map"><div class="gmail-country-info"><div class="gmail-country-flag"><img src="https://www.ozy.com/magazine/graphics/atw/flags/BD.png" alt="BD flag"></div><div class="gmail-country-name"><a href="https://www.ozy.com/topic/bangladesh">Bangladesh</a></div><div class="gmail-country-geo">23.684994° N, 90.356331° E</div></div><div class="gmail-map-outer-wrapper" style="max-height:786px"><div class="gmail-map-container"><div class="gmail-map-wrapper"><div class="gmail-map-inner-wrapper"><a class="gmail-view-map" href="https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world"><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-view-map-icon gmail-i-view-map-icon-dims"></span><span class="gmail-text"> view map</span></a><div id="gmail-simplemaps-map-atw-countries" class="gmail-simplemaps-map-atw-countries"><div id="gmail-simplemaps-map-atw-countries_holder" style="width:425px"><div id="gmail-simplemaps-map-atw-countries_zoom" style="top: 40px; left: 3px; z-index: 1;"></div><div id="gmail-simplemaps-map-atw-countries_inner" style=""></div></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-country-icons gmail-c8"><ul><li><div><span class="gmail-stats-icon"></span><span class="gmail-info"><span>164,669,751</span><span>Population</span></span></div></li><li><div><span class="gmail-stats-icon"></span><span class="gmail-info"><span>Bengali</span><span>Spoken Language</span></span></div></li><li><div><span class="gmail-stats-icon"></span><span class="gmail-info"><span>$4,207</span><span>GDP Per Capita</span></span></div></li><li><div><span class="gmail-stats-icon"></span><span class="gmail-info"><span>Dhaka</span><span>Capital City</span></span></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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<p>Aroma Dutta was in her early 20s when her grandfather, Dhirendranath
Datta, was arrested at their home in Comilla on a fateful March night in
1971. Those were turbulent times in what was then the
Pakistan-administered province of East Bengal (also called East
Pakistan).</p><p>An independence movement seeking sovereignty from
Pakistani control had begun to gain rapid momentum among the region’s
Bengali-speaking population, and the state had launched a crushing
military drive to weed out prominent separatist leaders suspected of
playing a part. Atop the list of wanted men — mostly eminent members of
the Bengali intelligentsia — was Datta. He died in confinement soon
after, succumbing to torture at the hands of his captors.</p><blockquote class="gmail-quote"><span class="gmail-quote-text"><p>… the groundwork of nationalism founded by the Language Movement eventually shaped Bangladesh’s struggle for independence.</p></span><p class="gmail-quotesource">Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh</p></blockquote><p>Far
from a mere act of intellectual cleansing, Datta’s death was not
without grave context. “They [the government] had decided long ago that
Dhirendranath would have to pay with his life for his advocacy of the
Bengali <a href="https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/the-future-of-language/78946" target="_blank">language</a>,”
contends his granddaughter, now one of Bangladesh’s foremost social and
human rights activists. “He never compromised on his demand to instate
Bengali as the lingua franca of Pakistan, and that never went down well
with most members of the government who had no inherent regard for the
language.”</p><p>In the annals of South Asian history, 1971 was a
momentous year. In the months following Datta’s death, brute military
force to curb the freedom movement resulted in an infamous genocide that
claimed millions of lives. Nearly 10 million refugees fled to
neighboring India, prompting an impassioned George Harrison and Ravi
Shankar to organize the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in
August. Finally, on December 16, following the routing of Pakistani
forces in the Liberation War, the sovereign nation of Bangladesh, which
exclusively identified itself by the language of its people, was born.</p><p>The
seeds of Bangladesh’s nationalism had been planted over more than 20
years of cultural turmoil preceding the war. The story begins in 1948 —
with Datta, of course. Attending a constituent assembly meeting in the
Pakistani city of Karachi in February that year, Datta — as an elected
assembly representative from East Pakistan — put forth an earnest demand
to recognize Bengali as the official <a href="https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/love-in-any-language/81887" target="_blank">language</a>
of the country. The leader’s logic was simple. “Out of six crores and
90 lakhs [69 million] of people inhabiting this state [Pakistan], four
crores and 40 lakhs [44 million] of people speak the Bengali language,”
he reasoned before the house. “So, sir, what should be the state
language?”</p><div class="gmail-pagebreak"> </div><div class="gmail-ozy-advert-wrapper"><div id="gmail-sas_85912_1" style="font-size:0px"><a href="https://www5.smartadserver.com/click?imgid=21318783&insid=7728121&pgid=535489&ckid=3355380813013927176&uci=366298916355163999&pubid=8&tmstp=7280512819&tgt=%24dt%3d1t%3b%24dma%3d504%3bsubscribed%3dnull%3bignored%3dnull%3bfblike%3dnull%3btopic%3dflashback%3btopic%3dhistory%3btopic%3dlanguage%3btopic%3dapple_news%3btopic%3ddeath%3btopic%3dasia%3btopic%3dbangladesh%3btopic%3dwar%3btopic%3dnbs%3btopic%3dasian_history%3btopic%3datw_countries%3btopic%3dsouth_asia%3btopic%3dbangladesh%3btagid%3dsas_85912_1%3barticleid%3d85912%3bslotpos%3d1%3bslotposseq%3d1%3barticlepos%3d1%3b%24hc&systgt=%24qc%3d1309588102%3b%24ql%3dmedium%3b%24qpc%3d08103%3b%24qpp%3d856%3b%24qt%3d152_471_34256t%3b%24dma%3d504%3b%24b%3d12590%3b%24o%3d11100%3b%24sw%3d1280%3b%24sh%3d768&pgDomain=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ozy.com%2fflashback%2fwhen-bangladesh-went-to-war-over-language%2f85912&go=https%3a%2f%2fad.doubleclick.net%2fddm%2fclk%2f414477089%3b215015743%3bh" target="_blank"><img id="gmail-21318783" src="http://pictures.ozy.com/Pictures/web/m/p/q/ozy_lufthansa_2000x500_Flieger_r1.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="500" border="0"></a>
</div></div><p>The argument behind the rhetorical question was sound,
but it failed to resonate with the house. Pakistan’s administrative
power was in the western mainland, where the native population spoke
languages such as Punjabi, Urdu or Pashto, but not Bengali. Moreover, as
an overarching answer to Pakistan’s complex linguistic matrix, the
government had recently ruled that Urdu would be adopted as the state
language, even though that decision alienated the majority of citizens
in its eastern province.</p><div class="gmail-inline_image gmail-image_size_med gmail-inline-element" id="gmail-123782"><a class="gmail-hash-link" id="gmail-img123782"> </a><div class="gmail-picture"><img alt="Gettyimages 97308121" src="https://pictures.ozy.com/pictures/768xany/7/8/2/123782_gettyimages97308121.jpg"></div><div class="gmail-sharing-options"><div class="gmail-close-button"><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-icon gmail-i-share-icon-dims"> </span></div><div class="gmail-share-item" title="When Bangladesh Went to War Over Language"><a class="gmail-facebook-share"><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-facebook-off gmail-i-share-hover-facebook-off-dims gmail-icon-off"> </span><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-facebook-on gmail-i-share-hover-facebook-on-dims gmail-icon-on"> </span></a><a class="gmail-twitter-share"><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-twitter-off gmail-i-share-hover-twitter-off-dims gmail-icon-off"> </span><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-twitter-on gmail-i-share-hover-twitter-on-dims gmail-icon-on"> </span></a><a class="gmail-pinterest-share"><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-pinterest-off gmail-i-share-hover-pinterest-off-dims gmail-icon-off"> </span><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-pinterest-on gmail-i-share-hover-pinterest-on-dims gmail-icon-on"> </span></a><a class="email-share" href="mailto:?subject=When Bangladesh Went to War Over Language&body=Some nations evolve culturally over millennia, but this South Asian nation was founded on the shared heritage of a mother tongue. %20https://www.ozy.com/flashback/when-bangladesh-went-to-war-over-language/85912#img123782%0A%0ADon't forget to Sign up for OZY emails (http://www.ozy.com/emailsignup) or Like OZY on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ozy)."><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-email-off gmail-i-share-hover-email-off-dims gmail-icon-off"> </span><span class="gmail-ozy-icon gmail-i-share-hover-email-on gmail-i-share-hover-email-on-dims gmail-icon-on"> </span></a></div></div><div class="gmail-meta gmail-no-icons"><div class="gmail-caption"><div class="gmail-sleeve"><p class="gmail-inline_caption">George
Harrison (center), flanked by Allen Klein (left) and sitarist Ravi
Shankar, speaks to reporters about their benefit show for East Pakistan
refugee children at Madison Square Garden, NYC.</p><p class="gmail-inline_source"><cite>Source <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com" target="_blank">Leonard Detrick/NY Daily News Archive via Getty </a></cite></p></div></div></div></div><p>Soon
after Datta’s petition was quashed in the assembly, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
— governor-general of Pakistan — visited East Pakistan and delivered a
conclusive speech at the University of Dhaka. “The state language of
Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language,” he said. “Anyone
who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan.” </p><p>In its
unequivocal prioritization of Urdu over Bengali, Jinnah’s speech
sparked mass outrage among East Pakistan’s Bengalis. Waves of public
criticism denouncing the government’s linguistic policy swept through
the region over the next few years, before coming to a head in 1952. “On
the morning of February 21 that year, as political debate spearheaded
by Dhirendranath raged in Dhaka’s Provincial Assembly house over the
recognition of the Bengali language,” recalls Dutta, “thousands of
university students, college students and common people assembled on the
adjacent university grounds to stage a public protest.”</p><p>Despite
starting off as a peaceful assembly, the day’s proceedings began to reel
out of control as the hours went by. Before long, organized protest had
given way to frenzied chaos, forcing the police to open fire on the
gathering. Four students were killed, and their deaths sparked further
civic unrest, which resulted in even more death and destruction of what
was widely believed to be the state’s cultural hegemony over its Bengali
population.</p><p>Looking back on the remains of the day, many of
Bangladesh’s leading thinkers concur that the tidings of 1952 — as well
as the people involved in the affairs — played a critical role in
shaping and foreshadowing <a href="https://www.ozy.com/acumen/why-1-small-nation-plays-a-major-role-in-peacekeeping/62085" target="_blank">Bangladesh’s</a>
subsequent path to independence. “There were many language activists
who were in the vanguard of the formative phase of the Language
Movement, and among those, however, Shaheed [martyr] Dhirendranath
Dutta’s role was seminal by any measure,” noted academic and political
observer M. Waheeduzzaman Manik in his column in Bangladeshi newspaper <em>The Daily Star</em> in 2014.</p><p>In
a written statement issued in 1994 while she was opposition leader in
Parliament, current Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina observed
that “the groundwork of nationalism founded by the Language Movement
eventually shaped Bangladesh’s struggle for independence,” and that
freedom was finally obtained in exchange for “the lives of 3 million
martyred men and the dignity of 2 million violated women.”</p><p>A price
that steep is difficult to forget. And even after four decades,
Bangladesh continues to remember its heroes. A national monument called
Shaheed Minar now stands in poignant silence within the premises of
Dhaka University, paying tribute to all of Bangladesh’s shaheeds who
made the supreme sacrifice for their motherland. Just like Datta.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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