21 February :: International Mother Language Day

21 February was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

International Mother Language Day originated as the international recognition of Language
Movement Day, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) since 1952, when a number of Bangladeshi university students were killed by the then East Pakistan police and army in Dhaka, formerly Dacca.

International Mother Language Day is observed yearly by UNESCO member states and at its
headquarters to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

History Of the day

On that day of 21 February 1952, corresponding to 8 Falgun 1359 in the Bangla calendar, a
number of students campaigning for the recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages of
Pakistan were killed when police fired upon them.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah(the Governor general of Pakistan) declared that the Urdu will be the
only language for both west and east Pakistan at a public meeting on 1948, 21 March. The
people of the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh, whose main language is Bengali) started to
protest against this.

A student meeting on 21 February called for a province-wide strike. But the government
invoked Section 144 on 20 February. The student community at a meeting on the morning of
21 February agreed to continue with their protest but not to break the law of Section 144.
Even then the police opened fire and killed the students.

Police declared Section 144 which banned any sort of meeting. Defying this, the students of
University of Dhaka and Dhaka Medical College and other political activists started a
procession in February 21, 1952. Near the current Dhaka Medical College Hospital, police
fired on the protesters and numerous people, including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed,
Sofiur Rahman, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar, died.

The movement spread to the whole of East Pakistan and the whole province came to a
standstill. Afterwards, the Government of Pakistan relented and gave Bengali equal status as
a national language.

See Also