This year marks the 73rd anniversary of the 1952 Language Movement. Drawing on research based on various published books, this 21-part series tells the story of the historic struggle for our mother tongue.
Women played a crucial role by actively participating in the Language Movement despite societal constraints, but the women of Barishal took it to another level.
On February 22 morning in 1952, hundreds of women, led by former member of provincial assembly (MPA) Mrs Hamiduddin, took to the streets of the city after the news of killings of protesters in Dhaka reached Barishal, according to the book Bhasha Andolan: Teknaf Theke Tetulia by Ahmed Rafiq.
The women leading a protest procession included Hosne Ara Niru, Manjushree, Mahe Noor Begum and Rani Bhattacharya. They were followed by members of the Rashtrobhasha Sangram Parishad. The participants included former minister Khan Bahadur Hashem Ali Khan and lawyer Shamser Ali.
The procession, brought out from the Ashwinikumar Town Hall, ended at the Circuit House ground. Around 500 pupils of AK Institute, led by student leader AKM Azhar Uddin, took out another procession. Joined by people, they held an absentee funeral and a commemorative meeting for the martyrs.
Another absentee funeral was held at the AK Khan School ground on February 23. The protesters built a Shaheed Minar in front of the Town Hall on February 24. A black flag of mourning and a red one symbolising revolution were hoisted there.
Earlier, during the first wave of the movement, then Additional District Magistrate Golam Kabir organised a discussion on Pakistan's state language towards the end of 1947. Advocate Aboni Ghosh and Professor DN Chaterjee were among those who spoke in favour of Bangla as a state language.
The surge of the movement's first phase reached Barishal and other parts of the country when the proposal to recognise Bangla as a state language was opposed in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in 1948.
According to the book Bhasha Andolaner Ancholik Itihas by Abu Mohammad Delwar Hossain, a protest rally was held for Bangla as a state language at the Muslim Institute on February 27 that year. Brajamohan College students joined the rally in procession.
Ahead of a demonstration announced centrally from Dhaka for March 11, Barishal Sangram Parishad was formed with Shamsul Haque Chowdhury as the convener. Students from different institutions conducted a publicity campaign for the protests.
Ahmed Rafiq wrote in his book Bhasha Andolan: Teknaf Theke Tetulia that an all-out general strike was observed in Barishal on March 11. The student protesters marched across the city before joining a rally next to Fakirbari road. Student leader Kazi Bahauddin Ahmed presided over the rally.
Bahauddin was among several leaders who were arrested by police later in the evening, but the protests could not be suppressed. General strikes were observed in the educational institutions of Barishal, Pirojpur, Bhola and Patuakhali on March 12 and 13.
In 1952, the students and people of Barishal erupted in protests when the government on January 27 announced that Urdu, not Bangla, would be the state language.
The book Bhasha Andolaner Ancholik Itihas says that a 25-member Rashtrobhasha Sangram Parishad was formed in Barishal to press for the demand for Bangla as a state language. Another Sangram Parishad was formed with Brajamohan College Students' Union Vice-President Syed Golam Kibria as the convener.
They launched a huge publicity campaign ahead of February 21, the main protest day. Besides pasting posters, they distributed leaflets across the city.
On February 21, Barishal turned into a city of processions, with all shops, educational institutions and businesses shut amid a general strike. The protesters chanted the indomitable slogan, "Rashtrobhanga Bangla Chai", as they marched across the city.
