Formation of Awami League, Language Movement, and the

Emergence of Bengali Nationalism

• The Formation of Awami League

• The Constitutional and Direct Confrontational aspects of Language
• Formation of Tamuddin Majlis and Its Role
• Students in Language Movement
• Jinnah’s Visit to East Pakistan
• Socio-economic Situation during 1947-52
• Language Movement in 1952
• Language Movement and Its Aftermath

• East Pakistan and West Pakistan joined together to form the new nation-state
as Pakistan.
• Hopes and Aspirations of East Bengal soon turned into despair
• East Bengal political leaders such A.K. Fazlul Huq, H.S. Suhrawardy were
marginalized and excluded
• There were cultural, political and economic issues that created the crisis
• The Muslim League was the original successor of the All-India Muslim League
• Hussein Shaheed Suhrawardy proposed to drop the name “Muslim” from the
party and proposed to rename “Awami League” which was a major shock and
Pakistani leaders refused the proposal.
• 23 June 1949, Bengali nationalists from East Bengal broke away from the
Muslim League and established the All Pakistan Awami Muslim League by
Maulana Bhashani, Shamsul Huq, Ataur Rahman Khan, Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman.
• In 1953, the party's council meeting voted to drop the word "Muslim“ and
renamed it as Awami League
 Language Movement
• The first crisis emerged on the issue of what would be the state language of
Pakistan
• In November 1947 The Pakistan Educational Conference was organized as
proposed Urdu as the State language which was opposed by the
representatives of East Pakistan
• Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan asserted:
“Pakistan has been created because of the demand of a hundred million Muslims
in this subcontinent and the language of a hundred million Muslims is Urdu…It is
necessary for a nation to have one language and that language can only be Urdu
and no other language”

Languages Percentages of Population

Bengali 54.6
Punjabi 27.1
Pushtu 6.1
Urdu 6
Sindhi 4.8
English 1.4

• Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited Dhaka on March 21, 1948 and asserted
that:

“…but let me make it clear to you that the state language of

Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to
mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one state language,
no nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the
history of other countries. Therefore, so far as the state language is
concerned, Pakistan’s language shall be Urdu”

• The uncompromising attitude of the West Pakistan government soon

led overall discontent in the East Bengal

• Urdu speaking candidates were preferred in civil service and excluded

the locals

• East Pakistani people, political leaders, civil servants, students became

united
 • The demand for Bengali as a national language went through two
distinct but interrelated phases:

• The constitutionalist phase (1947 and 1951) when the demand was
placed through parliamentary debates and newspaper articles.

• The direct confrontation phase (1952), when various urban and

rural subaltern classes, academics and students protested in East
Bengal.

Formation of Tamuddin Majlis

• The first organized opposition to Urdu came from the Tamuddin Majlis

• Tamuddin Majlis was formed in September 1947 by Prof. Abul

Kashem, professors and students at Dhaka University.

• In a booklet "Pakistaner Rashtra Bhasha, Bangla na Urdu"(Pakistan's

State Language, Bengali or Urdu) it was proposed that:

(1) The Bengali Language shall be the a) medium of

instruction in East Pakistan, b) the medium of court
communication, c) the medium of mass communication;

(2) "The languages of the central government will be both Urdu

and Bengali."

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• Professor Kazi Motahar Hussain argued that any attempt to impose
Urdu against the will of the people of East Bengal would result in total
failure.
• He warned that "it might lead to the end of the relationship between
the East and the West of Pakistan”.
• However, at this phase the language issue failed to reach to the masses
and not even all the intellectuals of Dhaka University voiced their
concerns under the banner of Tamuddin Majlis.
• The central government adopted a formal decision to impose Urdu as
the state language during the first session of the Constituent Assembly
of Pakistan (CAP) in late February 1948.
• Dhirendranath Dutta, a member of the opposition Hindu Congress
Party from East Bengal, stood and argued that:
“The state language should be the language which is used by the
majority of the people of the State, and for that, Sir, I consider that
Bengali language is a lingua franca of our State”.

• The decision by the central authority to impose Urdu on East Bengal

had already become an issue in student politics, and it began to
emerge as direct confrontation with the State.
• On receiving the news that the demand of language had been rejected
by the central authority in West Pakistan, students, intellectuals and
politicians of East Pakistan became agitated.
• A new committee called Rastra Bhasa Sangram Parishad was formed
with Shamsul Huq as convener to fight for Bangla as the state language
was formed
• On 11 March 1948 a general strike was observed in East Pakistan to
protest against:
(a) the omission of Bangla from the languages of the Constituent
Assembly,
(b) the absence of Bangla letters in Pakistani coins and stamps,
(c) the use of only Urdu in recruitment tests for the navy.
• Fazlur Rehman, a Bengali Central Minister, tried to impose the
Arabic alphabet on Bengali.

• Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah was requested to do that but he

declined to do so.

• The motivation behind this attempt was to take advantage of the

Muslim attachment to the Arabic language.

• The was asserted that "Sanskritization of the language be

avoided“.

• That actually meant to exclude all the Sanskrit words from Bengali
and to replace them by Urdu, Arabic or Persian words to "conform
to the Islamic ideology.

Major Socio-economic Discontents

• Bengali frustrations in the field of politics, economy and
administration

• The entire middle class was increasingly disillusioned as various

administrative jobs were filled by non-Bengali West Pakistanis.

• Between 1948 and 1952, East Bengal's contribution to the central

treasury was Rs 8.9 million was not invested in East Bengal.

• The Bengali Hindus, who migrated to India during partition, managed

to take with them Rs 2.7 billion rupees, which deprived East Bengal of
its initial capital formation.

• It was primarily due to their disillusionment and frustration with the

State of Pakistan.

• The overall socio-economic conditions had deteriorated as the of

Pakistan firmly established a colonial relationship with East Bengal
• Dhaka Bishwabidyalaya Rastrabhasha Sangram Committee was
formed in early 1952 and demanded the final settlement over
the issue of state language

• Khwaja Nazimuddin visited Dhaka on January 26, 1952 in that

heightened moment and declared again that “only Urdu would
be Pakistan’s language” which reignited the movement

• Dhaka university went on strike again and all people became

united. Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani organized a huge
protest

• It was decided to organize a general strike on 21 February, 1952

• In reaction, the government announced section 144 on that day

which banned all processions and meetings

• Thousands of people assembled on Dhaka University

campus and decided to violating section 144
 • The armed police immediately baton-charged, used tear gas
and fired into the crowd

• Five people were killed on the spot and many others were
injured and arrested

• Language movement emerged from a cultural movement to

a mass protest against unbending Pakistani government

• A temporary memorial was built on the spot which was

demolished by the government

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• The new Shahid Minar was built on 1962 which became a focal
point of national identity, politics and so close to the heart of
the Bangladeshis

Impact of Language Movement

• West Pakistani government was forced to accept both Bangla and
Urdu as the state languages of Pakistan.

• Opened the mask of the West Pakistani government

• Bengali identity of the Muslims to the forefront

• End of the use of religion for political purpose: a secular movement

(Urdu and Arabic script)

• Student organizations and Dhaka University in particular appeared as

the political front

• Emergence of “East Pakistan Student’s Union”, East Pakistan Student’s

League”

• United the people of East Pakistan and facilitated the political parties
a strong platform
• Muslim League lost its popular base and credibility in East
Pakistan

• “Bengali-ism” emerged as a secular political ideology

• Shahid Minar became a symbol of Bengali identity, national

unity and fight against injustice

• Since 1952, 21 February has been observed every year to

commemorate the martyrs of the Language Movement.

• UNESCO declared “International Mother Language Day” on

November 17, 1999

• It is an honor bestowed by the international community on the

Language Movement of Bangladesh.
• A root of Bangladeshi independence