Recalling the days of Language Movement

He had little difficulty in picking up certain specific dates from the basket of history back in 1952, which give birth to one of the most precious and dear moments for each and every Bangalee.

Although now 74, Mohammad Ezaharul Hoque appears as emotion-charged as a sophomore when he was asked to reminisce about the historical events leading to the most successful Language Movement humankind has ever seen.

Ezaharul Hoque was general secretary of the Chittagong College Students Union when the language movements were shaping up and heading towards their desired destination.

"The movements actually had their take-off from early 1948 and although there wasn't any organisational structure in Chittagong, the Tammudun Majlish was on the forefront to lead and mobilise all the agitation here," he said during an interview at his Khulshi residence on Sunday night.

He cited the names of Mahbub-Ul Alam Chowdhury, Dr Mahfuzul Haque, Engineer Azizur Rahman, late Abdullah Al Mamun, late Jahur Ahmad Chowdhury, Solaiman Khan, advocate Khan Shahiful Mannan, Rafiqullah Chowdhury, Sadeque Nabi, Chowdhury Shahabuddin Khaled, Ahmad Farid, advocate Omar Hayat, Dr Maqsudur Rahman, Dr Syedur Rahman, Dr Anwar Hossain, late Chowdhury Harunur Rashid, Amir Hossain Dobash, Mozaffar Ahmad, Habibullah, Mafizul Islam, Shamsuddin Ahmad, Formanullah Khan and Kamal A Khan, among many others who played a tremendous role in gearing up the movements from 1948 up to 1952.

Ezaharul, now chairman of the CNC Group of Industries, recalled: "We used to sit in meetings on the front veranda of Kadam Mubarak Mosque in the city's Momin Road area, discussing our preparations for agitation or movement, and leaders like Professor Abul Kashem, who was considered one of the architects of our language movement, and Solaiman Khan deliver inspirational speeches."

"In 1950, I was then a 2nd year student, education minister Fazlur Rahman launched a propagation against Bangla and was trying to establish Urdu as the lone language of then Pakistan. A large section of people from the madrassas of East Pakistan also sent messages in favour of Urdu to Mohammad Ali Jinnah. We were astonished. One press owner (Alabia Press near the present General Post Office) had assisted the education minister in this evil conspiracy."

"We, the Tamuddun Majlish activists, took a stance against this plot and made public our attitude and emotion through the Weekly Sainik, which eventually added strength and gave us extra enthusiasm."

Ezaharul went on: "The entire East Pakistan and its people were stunned in 1951 when Governor Khwaja Nazimuddin at a Paltan rally in Dhaka arbitrarily declared that Urdu should be the only state language of Pakistan.

"We took the declaration as a matter of treachery from his part because when he was chief minister of East Pakistan he had agreed with the Rashtra Bhasha Sangram Parishad (RBSP) to recognise Bangla and Urdu as the state languages of Pakistan."

"Khwaja Nazim's treacherous act sparked off widespread agitation in Dhaka, Chittagong and other parts of the country, and they started a vigorous campaign within no time," he said.

He said, "We soon started mobilising people from our office at Anderkilla, where Chittagong south district Awami League is located now, and decided to enforce non-stop hartals, organise processions and rallies. We also called a rally at Laldighi Maidan on February 21. In the meantime, Mahbub-Ul Alam became ill and Azizur Rahman was given the charge of the RBSP convenor."

"We continued attaching posters, carrying out door-to-door campaign and motivating students and common people on the night of February 19 and February 20 by dodging police vigil and also kept bringing out processions during the daytime to make February 21 gathering a grand success. And the relentless efforts paid off later on. The February 21 meeting was indeed a huge boost for us. Hartal was observed peacefully and spontaneously."

Ezaharul ruminated: "The following day, we heard about police atrocities on a peaceful procession in Dhaka, which resulted in the deaths of many valiant souls including Salam, Rafique, Jabbar and Barkat. The brutal incident instantly ignited the sentiment of the people and the movement like a volcanic eruption. People from all walks of life took to the streets in protest of the killing in Dhaka. And in an instant decision a protest rally was called at the Laldighi Maidan on February 23.

"The brutal killing made Mahbub-Ul Alam so upset that he took no time to write down in a single sitting the historic poem, "Kandte Asini, Fanshir Dabi Niye Esechhi." I can't remember who actually recited the poem at Laldighi Maidan (probably it was Chowdhury Harun). Nevertheless, the poem left a terrific impact on the minds of people present there and the rest of the developments are now history."

Ezahar believes that determination, confidence, courage and emotion were reflected splendidly in the poem, explaining why the poem is still so appealing to everybody.

"On the other hand, the success of the language movement in fact gave us the stimulus and encouragement towards independence in 1971," he observed.

Ezahar has expressed his frustration over the present socio-political scenario in the country and the violent enmity between the two major parties.

Yet, he now derives inspiration and hope for better days from the book, 'The Singapore Story' written by former prime minister and the architect of modern Singapore Lee Kwan Yew.

"This man (Lee Kwan) alone has changed a 224-sq km land to present Singapore and I believe strongly that Bangladesh has all those potentials," Ezaharul told The Daily Star.