Breaking the black hour of midnight, the month of February has begun in the new light of a new day. February is the month of Bengali language, the month of hope, the month of Ekushey. The month of Bengal and Bengali existence. The sound-echo of ``Ekushey February, colored with the blood of my brother'' in hundreds of thousands of voices is the greatest month of the exaltation of the mother, land and people of Bengal. This month of February is marked by the blood of immortal Ekushey, the great occasion to spread the seed mantra of the eternal Bengali nationhood of ancient Bengal.
In the shackled days of British colonialism and later semi-colony of Pakistan, Bengalis got their first taste of victory through language and culture. The historic victory of the Bengali language and the Bengali nation on February 21, 1952, paved the way for independence, the liberation war of 1971, and the final victory of Bengal and Bengali.
Being a symbol of the existence of Bengal and Bengalis, February 21st is the charioteer of the past, present and future, the torch of cultural identity and political consciousness. The triumph of Bengali language and culture has brought the final victory of political rights and an independent country called Bangladesh through the achievement of independence. In addition to paying tribute to the supreme sacrifice of language martyrs and language fighters, the entire nation experiences the glorious culture, language and literature, thought and philosophy of Bengal and Bengalis over a thousand years in the entire month of February. By embracing all the glory that is known to be Bengali and Bengalis, every member of the nation, regardless of religion or caste, is enriched.
Ekushey is not just a day or an event. It is a shining example of the struggle and uniqueness of a nation. Ekushey has established Bengali as the state language and has inspired the Bengali nation to achieve an independent country with the immense power of that language. The struggle for independence from the language movement is the Bengali's tradition of struggle to achieve the right to cultural, political, social, economic self-determination, an inseparable historical continuity, the essence of existence.
No one has felt the conspiracy of cultural and political domination through language like the Bengalis. Because they felt it, they saved their language and culture with blood and snatched the red sun of independence through that blood-stained path. No other country in the world has been able to write such a history of struggle because, although there are hundreds of languages in the world, not all languages have political independence and state recognition. There are also very few examples of establishing a state on the basis of language. The language of the entire Latin American countries (only Brazil was a Portuguese colony, so it is in Portuguese) is Spanish. A small country in Europe, Spain, occupied the continent and changed their language and religion. Yet, in that Latin America, there was the Mayan civilization, the Aztec civilization, the Inca civilization. There was the Kachua language of Peru. The original language of the original inhabitants of almost all countries has disappeared today. They are being ruled by learning the language of others.
Britain is a small island. But by establishing colonies in countries around the world, they have spread their English language everywhere. Even today, the British maintain their cultural dominance. The Red Indians of the United States of America and the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and their languages are being sent to museums, and English is dominating there. English is now the main language of the world.
France has imposed the French language beyond its borders on half of Canada and a large part of the African continent. Italian is spoken in some countries of the world. Italy was also a colonial power. Each colony gained political authority and imposed its language and culture, so that the rule and exploitation could continue. In the case of Bengal and Bengalis, this was not possible due to the bright light of Ekushey's fiery consciousness. However, although there are many ethnic groups and their rich languages, pasts and traditions in the entire North Africa, West and Central Asia and the Middle East, they have disappeared and only three languages have been established as a state language. Arabic has become the main language there. The Persian language of Iran has occupied the second place, which has crossed its borders to Central Asia, Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan. The third place is the language of the Turks, which is prevalent in Turkey and the former Soviet and present Chinese Turkistan. The rich Kurdish language and culture are heavily influenced by Turkish domination. In the South Asian region, namely the Indian subcontinent, Aryans, Shakas, Huns, Greeks, Arabs, Persians, Mughals, Pathans and several European powers have also come. Here too, although there is a diverse presence of different languages, Sanskrit and Persian have respectively dominated the state. Until the arrival of the English, Hindus and Muslims had to learn Persian to get jobs. Then, although English was the official language, in reality, Hindi and Urdu were the leading languages of the entire subcontinent.
Apart from these, there were many other traditional, rich and majority languages, but none other than Bengali could break the bilingual dominance and stand up in an independent political-cultural-social structure in this subcontinent. Scholars wanted to impose Sanskrit on Bengali. Attempts were made to give Arabic or Persian forms to the Bengali language with the help of the government. Bengali and Bengalis did not accept any domination and aggression.
That is why the eternal Bengali language of the traditional Bengalis of Bangladesh is awake in its genuine purity. Poets of the ancient and medieval ages, common people have used Bengali in such a wonderful way in daily life and literature that the Bengali language has survived with the vitality of a living river. Even foreign rulers were forced to adopt the Bengali language and Bengali identity. In history, we see many rulers who ended their names with the word "Bengali". The independent Muslim sultans of Bengal were the real patrons of the Bengali language, under whose patronage Hindu religious narratives were also transformed from Sanskrit into Bengali.
The struggling Bengali nation, possessing such a vibrant Bengali language, could not historically accept the attempts to impose Urdu, the language of far northern India (and Pakistan). Just as the ancient Bengalis repeatedly rejected the rule of Delhi and declared independence and chose an independent life, the modern Bengalis also did not accept the domination of Pakistan. As a result of the protest, the black highway of Dhaka was stained red with blood on February 21, 1950. The language movement and struggle ensured the victory of the Bengali language.
As a result, Ekushey is not just an isolated event in the history of Bengal and Bengalis, but a fiery manifestation of Bengal's historical independent-minded cultural and political attitude. At the same time, there is a living hope mixed with Ekushey, which hope has brought political freedom to Bengalis on the path of linguistic freedom and is constantly resounding as a song of moving forward against all impositions, aggression and domination.
That is why Ekushey, as a symbol of the existence of Bengal and Bengalis, lights the torch of optimism for the entire nation to move forward. After achieving cultural-political rights, the spirit of Ekushey always inspires us to move forward hand in hand on the path of pluralism-coordination, overcoming ignorance, illiteracy, corruption, terrorism, communalism and violence. It inspires us to ensure freedom of speech, individuals and the press and the rule of law through good governance and creating a democratic path.
The great memorial of the Ekushey February Language Movement has become the International Mother Language Day through universal recognition. The historical national event of Bangladesh has been transformed into an international phenomenon. Ekushey February 24 of Bangladesh has become a source of global inspiration in the multi-centric state and society of the world, becoming a beacon of light for the realization of language and cultural freedom and rights worldwide. This glory belongs to Bengal, Bengalis, Bangladesh. Ekushey has full support for every step taken to establish the rights of all peoples of the world, marginal and central societies, and all languages and cultures. The immortal Ekushey is forever touching the innermost soul of Bengal and Bengalis and resounding the great mantra of awakening in every letter of the alphabet of every language in the world.
Dr. Mahfuz Parvez: Associate Editor, Barta24.com
Professor and Chairman, Department of Political Science, Chattogram University and
Executive Director, Chattogram Center for Regional Studies, Bangladesh (CCRSBD).