Opinion: Vilification Of February 21 Language Movement Will Trigger Existential Crisis In Bangladesh

File image of Dhanmondi 32, the residence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur, which was demolished by a mob earlier this month.

Source : Nayanima Basu

“Rashtro bhasha Bangla chaai; Amader daabi maante hobe (Bangla should be our national language and that is our demand),” resonated like a war cry across the streets of Dacca (now Dhaka) in 1952, when Bangladesh was East Pakistan. A massive uprising led by students of the University of Dhaka erupted on February 21, 1952, driven by tensions that had been simmering since March 1948, when the founder of Pakistan, ‘Quaid-i-Azam’ Mohammad Ali Jinnah, announced that Urdu alone