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THE historic Language Martyrs Day or the eternal Ekushey February, as it is known to the Bengali speaking people in this part of the world, will be observed on Monday with due solemnity. Being one of the most defining moments of the political and cultural history of Bangladesh, this day bears a special significance. It is not viewed as a movement that just helped a nation to get the state-level recognition for its mother tongue. Rather, it was a development having far-reaching consequences. It had set in motion a chain of events that took place intermittently, culminating in the birth of a nation in 1971.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), thus, rightly accorded a global recognition to this great historic event when it declared in 1999 the February 21 as the International Mother Language Day. Since 2000, the day is being observed globally to promote recognition and practise the world's mother tongues, particularly the minority ones. The UNESCO has chosen this occasion of great sacrifice to promote global awareness to save almost half of the world's 6000 to 7000 mother tongues from virtual extinction.
The language movement -- a unique event in the post-second World War human history -- was not merely a fight to preserve and promote a mother tongue but also a struggle against deprivation and tyranny. Thus, the Language Martyrs Day is more symbolic than the cultural celebration of Bengali heritage. The martyrs of language movement, in fact, were pioneers of a protracted nationalist movement that aimed at securing territorial as well as economic independence. So, observance of the Ekushey February cannot be a ritual, being confined only to placing of wreaths at the altar of the Shahid Minar or showering of eulogies in memory of the language martyrs or organising a month-long book fair at the Bangla Academy premises. It is also an occasion for self-searching. The inner message of the Ekushey does not want anyone to be jingoistic and keep one's eyes and ears shut to other languages and cultures. Unfortunately, some people over the years have got the message of the great historic movement wrong and caused an extensive damage to the nation's ability to compete in the international arena.
The language movement had been a constant source of inspiration for the people to carry out a long movement and a bloody war of liberation for achieving both political and economic freedom. Thus, the people of the then East Pakistan in 1971 got a new map and a new flag to become a free and independent nation. But is the state of affairs with politics and economy of the present-day Bangladesh somewhere near to what had been dreamt by the martyrs of language and freedom struggles? The violent nature of politics and an economy where more than 50 per cent of the population live below poverty line do largely belie the hopes and aspirations of the martyrs did so fondly hold dear to their hearts, sharing the same with their compatriots. They had longed for a country where the people would live in peace and harmony having their basic minimum requirements fulfilled. But their hopes have been largely dashed due to successive failures of the ruling class over the past three and a half decades of independent identity of this nation. On this auspicious occasion, the nation needs to ponder why the country is failing to fulfil the aspirations of the flag-bearers of all democratic movements and the War of Liberation and chart out right ways to get out of this hapless situation.
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