How can I forget the 21st of February?

Sprayed with the blood of my brothers?

How can I forget the 21st of February?

Washed by the tears of so many mothers?

Mother, motherland, and mother tongue, all these three words are very
precious to everyone. Mother is probably the priciest thing of a man’s life in
this world. Many people are ready to willingly sacrifice their lives for mother
without second thought. For motherland, world has already seen many wars
in its life so far.

What about mother tongue?

Have you ever heard people died for their own language?

I can recognize a nation who went on a war only to save the rights of speaking in their native
language. I can recognize a country which was born for its mother tongue only. I can recognize
many language martyrs who laid their lives for establishing the rightful place of their language.
And I am a proud citizen of that country. I am a proud child of those brave and unselfish heroes
for whom 1.5 billion people are speaking in their mother tongue right now. Yes, I am talking
about a very small but beautiful country that’s My Bangladesh.

What makes the 21st of February so special?

Before 1971 Bangladesh was known by East Pakistan as it wasn’t an independent

country in the world. In Pakistan it was two parts one was East Pakistan where the living
people were speaking Bangla another one was West Pakistan where people were
speaking Urdu.

The events leading up to the adoption of the 21st of February as International Mother
Language Day started when the Governor General of West Pakistan Mohammed Ali
Jinnah, declared at a public meeting on 21 March 1948 that Urdu would be the only
official language for both east and west Pakistan. The majority of the people living in
eastern Pakistan were Bangla-speaking and therefore they protested against this
declaration. A student meeting called for a strike on 21 February, a move which the
Pakistani government would not tolerate. Five of the students from East Pakistan Rafiq,
Salam, Jabbar, Barkat were campaigning for Bangla to be recognized as one of the
state languages of Pakistan. But the Governor of West Pakistan did not tolerate and
they shot and killed Rafiq, Salam, Jabbar, Barkat by west Pakistani army. The slain
students are seen as martyrs, for their cause, which turned out to be the beginning of
Bangladesh’s struggle for independence.
Then after the war in 1971 East Pakistan became independent and it’s called today
Bangladesh.
The 21st of February is of special significance to the people of Bangladesh.
Each year on this date, the country commemorates International Mother Language Day,
in recognition of the preservation of Bangla as the official language of Bangladesh. At
the request of the people of Bangladesh, and after investigating the
matter, UNESCO declared the 21st of February each year to be International Mother
Language Day, on a world-wide scale among united nation member countries.
Each year the 21st of February was commemorated as Language Martyrs Day in
Bangladesh and other parts of the world that have sizeable groups of Bangla-speaking
people.
In 1999 the proposal was made to UNESCO to create International Mother Language
Day in the belief that a culture of peace can only really prosper where each individual
enjoys the right to communicate freely in their mother language in all aspects of their
lives. UNESCO supports this conviction, as well as the belief that there should be
cultural and linguistic diversity in education and the preservation of languages in danger
of dying out. So at the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1999 the
decision was taken to launch International Mother Language Day throughout the world.
In Bangladesh, International Mother Language Day is commemorated with events
taking place primarily around the Language Martyr’s Monument in Dhaka. Many people
bring flowers, mainly in red and yellow, which are spread out in front of the monument. It
is a sad day as respect is paid to the martyrs who brought to the world’s attention the
necessity of keeping marginalized languages alive.

Henceforth UN member of countries around the world observe 21st February

as the International Mother Language day. The historic 21st February has,
thus, assumed new dimension. May be my country is not among the richest
in the world, maybe it doesn’t got the highest technology to dominate this
planet, maybe most part of the world even doesn’t know a country called
Bangladesh exists in this planet…. These things never make me sad or
upset. Rather I feel good when I think we have done something that no
countries in this world have done before. I feel proud when I think of our
unselfish heroes Rafiq, Salam, Jabbar, Barkat and many more who set an
example for the rest of the world. On this very day of 21st February I show
great compliment and glowing respect to all of those heroes from the bottom
of my heart.