Saturday, February 21, 2009

Kolkata Observed Shaheed Dibosh February 21st, 2009

"Kadte Ashini Fashir Dabi Niye Ashechi"
 (I have not come to mourn but to appeal for hanging)!
(Shaheed Minar, Dhaka University Campus, Bangladesh)

This was how Mahbub Ul Alam Choudhury reacted while responding to the police incident at Dhaka University on 21 February 1952. He immediately wrote the poem "Kadte Ashini"!

The then Pak Government tried to enforce "Urdu" as the sole national language of Pakistan!  "Urdu and only Urdu will be the national language of Pakistan"! This was the statement made by the governor, Khawaja Nazimuddin.

Students of University of Dhaka, Dhaka Medical College and other political activists called for a provincial strike. Curfew was invoked to prevent this. Pak police fired on the students. A number of students were killed. 

(Moder Gorob sculpture in Bangla Academy)

Afterwards, the Government of Pakistan relented and gave Bengali equal status as a national language.

UNESCO decided to observe the 21st February as International Mother Language Day on 17 November 1999!

Kolkata observes the day with gratitude.  A function going on at Bhasa Udyan, Kolkata

It was an open air conference! iKolkata captured this photo when leading poets recited in front of a mesmerized audience!

How can we forget sacrifices of those youths for our mother tongue - Bengali? 

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