Inferiority complex hinders practice of Bangla
The three-part book, "Purbo Banglar Bhasha Andolan O Tatkaleen Rajneeti", by Badruddin Umar is considered a key document of Language Movement history. The renowned researcher, writer, theorist and communist leader recently discussed the 1952 movement, the use of Bangla and different other matters with Star's Ahmad Istiak.
TDS: Why have you added the politics of that time in your book on the Language Movement?
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Umar: Look, the Language Movement was never a spiritual, cultural or singular movement. Since it was a political movement from the beginning, I felt that its history would not be complete without highlighting the political context of the time.
TDS: You mentioned two phases of the movement in your book. The first in 1948 and the second in 1952. What differences have you noticed between these two phases?
Umar: Although the goal and objective were the same, there were vast differences between the two stages. The movement of 1948 was limited to students and intellectuals. There was not much involvement of the common people. Only in Sylhet and Jashore did girls participate in the movement. When university students took out a procession, the Bangalee residents of Old Dhaka even beat them up. But in 1952, the masses across the country took part in the movement. Farmers, workers, and others outside of political parties also joined the movement. Those who spoke a mix of Urdu and Bangla in Old Dhaka also joined the movement.
TDS: You also mentioned almost all the political movements between the two phases of the Language Movement. Which of these political movements turned the 1952 Language Movement into a movement of the masses?
Umar: You see, there was a severe food shortage in the country from 1947 to 1951. It became more acute in mid-1948. The prices of goods were increasing. On the other hand, farmers were not getting a fair price for their crops. As a result, anti-government sentiments were evident among the people in the rural areas. The Tangail by-election of 1949 is proof of this. Despite being a Muslim League candidate, the landlord of Karotia, Khurram Khan Panni, lost his deposit in the election. All of this basically transformed the spark of the movement of 1948 into the wildfire of 1952.
TDS: When did the thought of working on the Language Movement first come to your mind? You must have needed help for information from a lot of people. How did you get their help? What was your work plan in this regard?
Umar: I started working on the Language Movement in detail in 1969. Collecting information was a big challenge. Because there were not many books on the subject in the library at that time. I decided to interview a few politicians. First, I met Kamruddin Ahmed. Since he was an active worker in the movement, I took notes of the main events after 1947 from him. I started collecting newspapers of that time. Especially, the weekly Soinik of Tamaddun Majlis and the Nao Belal newspaper edited by Mahmud Ali published from Sylhet helped me a lot. Because these two newspapers published news not only about the Language Movement but also about all political movements and the food shortage. After that, I met Oli Ahad, Tajuddin Ahmad, Abdur Rashid Khan. I got some leaflets of that time from Oli Ahad and Abdur Rashid Khan. Shahidullah Kaiser gave me leaflets and circulars from the Communist Party archives.
But a diary written by Tajuddin Ahmad was the most useful to me. First, he gave me several leaflets and pamphlets. During a conversation, he told me one day that he used to write diaries at that time. He was not sure if those would be useful to me. The diaries, all written in English from 1947 to 1956, were in an old bag. I kept a diary from 1947 to 1952. In this diary, he wrote where the meetings were being held and who attended them. He even mentioned in detail who was presiding and what was discussed. Tajuddin Saheb's diary was very helpful to me in terms of information. In this way, I had to extract information through a lot of hard work from various newspapers, and meetings with political leaders and workers.
Habitually I was careful about made up stories, fictions, and wish fulfillment. For this, many people have abused me in foul language, but I have not written anything beyond the facts.
Another thing is, every year, when February comes, Sheikh Hasina would say that I have belittled her father's role in the Language Movement. But she herself does not know what role her father played. In an interview two years ago, she said that her father was repeatedly jailed for participating in the Language Movement – which has no basis. Her father did not go to jail repeatedly during the Language Movement. It is true that he went to jail for being involved in various movements. But it was not repeatedly for the Language Movement. Like many others, he went to jail for five days on March 11, 1948, for the Language Movement. He was released on March 16. Besides, Sheikh Mujib had no involvement in the history of the Language Movement. On February 21, 1952, he was in Faridpur jail. On February 17, he was transferred from Dhaka to Faridpur. As a result, there was no question of him leading the Language Movement. Moreover, the Awami League did not have much importance in those days. However, the Jubo League, which was organisationally related to the Communist Party, played an important role. In 1952, Oli Ahad's role was the most significant. The Language Movement of 1952 was mainly attended by the masses. Therefore, I dedicated my book to the struggling people of East Bengal.
TDS: After more than seven decades of the Language Movement and five decades of the Liberation War, how much have we been able to achieve the objective of the Language Movement in this independent country? What do you think?
Umar: First of all, we could not reach the heights we were supposed to reach with the Bangla language. Because even though we could make it the state language, we could not introduce Bangla at all levels. Even now, in our country, we see that many people consider it a virtue to be able to speak English even within the family. Bangla is not given any importance in English medium schools. The students there do not know how to read Bangla, nor do they even feel the interest. There is no other nation in the world other than Banglaees among whom there is such an inferiority complex regarding language.
It is necessary to learn English, but first of all, one must know Bangla well.
TDS: Why have we failed to make Bangla acceptable at all levels? What were our limitations?
Umar: Besides our mindset, the rulers have a big responsibility here. It didn't happen because the rulers didn't want it, although we have a great opportunity in front of us. Bangla was officially recognised as a state language in 1956 after the 1952 Language Movement. But it was like we forgot everything after independence. Now most of the shops in our country are given English names.
The Bangla Language Propagation Act was enacted in 1987. It is not even implemented. Again, before implementing that law, we have to create opportunities. Our ruling class or we did not create a favourable environment for it. Now, not only the upper class, but also the middle class send their children to English medium schools. Because we have not been able to maintain the standard of education in Bangla medium schools. Take the case of Dhaka University. How much research is done there every year? Even with the little money that is given, no research is done. Teachers are promoted without any research. No government has agreed to accept Bangla at all levels because they think it will make it difficult for them to plunder. There is no second example of how we have failed to accept Bangla as the language of all levels despite being 98 percent Bangalees in an independent country.
TDS: You and others in your generation practised mindfulness in Bangla for a longtime. Why the current generations could not continue that?
Umar: The practice of Bangla that existed in the 60s has largely ended. By practice, I mean research, exploration of the language. The practice of knowledge has disappeared in this country. And the practice of education has been lost. The people of this country have no idea what higher education, high standards of education are. They think that the quality of education will increase if colleges are converted into universities! Another thing is that no one can ever reach the top by being separated from their own language and forgetting their own history.
TDS: Where do we actually stand in practising Bangla in literature now? Do you see any crisis here?
Umar: Those who do literary work in our country now are like mediocres. That's why no big-name writers are produced here. There is a book fair in the country, where thousands of books are published. But out of these thousands of books, maybe a maximum of 100-150 books are worth reading. The rest are not worth reading. The publishers themselves told me that garbage is being published in the name of books. This is how it is going on. Many people are writing. But just writing won't do; you have to see what they are writing. All the books are being published with colourful covers. Everyone now buys books just by looking at the cover, there is nothing inside. Yet to protect the publishing industry, the government has banned the sale of books from other countries. The government has limited the book fair to only Bangladeshi writers and publishers, condoning stupidity and the low quality of literature. If it had been opened to the world, books from other countries, quality books of world literature, could have come here. Bangla literature would have benefited from this. But the country's intellectuals, writers and publishers consider it a threat. That is why there is never a demand to free the book fair.
However, in Europe, people learn more than one language besides their own. And they also practise literature in that language. When there is an exchange between languages and cultures, each language prospers. And here, Bangla is isolated from all languages. As a result, the development of the language is not happening and we do not see any possibility of the improvement and development of human thought.
(NB: An excerpt from the interview is published in the print edition. To read the full interview, visit The Daily Star's website.)
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