The role of the government in protecting the dignity of Bangla

In 1952, Rafiq, Jabbar, Salam, Barkat and Safiur shed blood to protect the dignity of their mother language. In return for their great sacrifice, we got our mother tongue Bangla. 

It was the language movement that later sowed the seeds of our liberation movement. It was the first resistance of the Bangalis against colonial slavery, exploitation and oppression, it was the first emergence of national consciousness. 

Today's independent Bangladesh has been achieved through the language movement. Bangla is not only the language of Bangladesh now but also an international language. The language movement marked the first time in history that people sacrificed their lives to establish their mother tongue as the state language of their country. 

Bangla has a glorious and rich history known throughout the world and the first contribution to this familiarity was made by the world-poet Rabindranath Tagore. In 1913, his immortal poetry 'Gitanjali' (Song Offerings) brought him the 'Nobel Prize', through this, the world could know about the Bangla language thus starting its globalisation.

After the independence of the country in 1971, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took the initiative to give a full form to the globalisation of the Bangla language. His initiative was first implemented at the UN General Assembly. 

UN activities are conducted in five languages. Presidents, Prime Ministers and UN envoys of all countries give speeches in any one of the five languages. As a member state, only Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a speech in another language, Bangla, at the UN General Assembly on 23 March 1974.

On 17 November 1999, Bangla was recognised as an international mother tongue by UNESCO. As a result, the status and importance of Bangla in the world increased greatly. Since 2000, UNESCO member states have observed 21 February as International Mother Language Day.

At present, Bangla departments are running in 100 universities in 30 countries of the world, where thousands of non-Bangalee students are learning Bangla. Besides, 33 volumes of Rabindra Rachanabali have been translated into Chinese. Lalon's songs and philosophy have been translated into English and Japanese. Bangla language, literature, history and culture are most practised abroad in Britain and the United States after Bangladesh and India. 

Apart from this, the Bangla language and culture are being practised in different countries including China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Germany, Poland and Australia. Bangla language is being practised in at least 10 universities and Asian research centres in the US. There are separate Bangla language channels in the state radio of six countries of the world. Separate Bangla language programs are being broadcast on radios of 10 more countries. There are six Bangladeshi-owned and Bangla-language television channels in Britain and 10 in the US. Twelve Bengali weekly magazines are published in Britain. There is a Bangla radio station called 'Betar Bangla'.

Bangalees are now spread all over the world. Therefore, the scope of the Bangla language has also expanded. Bangla is now spoken by about 30 crore people in the world. By 2050, the number of Bengali speakers will be 31.60 crore. Bangla ranks fifth in the world in terms of mother tongue among the conventional languages. The major languages of the world are Mandarin (Chinese), English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bangla, Portuguese, Malay-Indonesian and French. Bangla is one of the top 10-11 languages in the world. Bangla is now the official language of three countries of the world — Bangladesh, India and Sierra Leone.

Even though the Bangla language is highly valued abroad — the question generally arises as to the importance of Bangla as a mother tongue in Bangladesh. Although 72 years have passed since the recognition of Bangla as the state language, the use of Bangla at all levels has not been implemented yet. Despite specific laws and High Court directives to ensure the use of Bangla at all levels—it is yet to be implemented. 

Court rulings are written in English, doctors also write prescriptions in English. Roads, educational institutions, banks, insurance, hospitals, business establishments, mass media and the names of various institutions, starting from signboards, billboards, banners-festoons, and advertisements have English. However, in these cases, the High Court has made it mandatory to write signboards in Bengali. Instructions in this regard were issued in February 2014.

The Bengali Language Introduction Act was enacted on 8 March 1987. On 12 April of the same year, the notification of the Ministry of Establishment stated, "The government has decided that in future all new laws, ordinances and rules must be enacted in Bengali." 

On 24 January 1979, the Cabinet took nine decisions to ensure Bangla at all levels. A committee consisting of 10 secretaries was formed on 16 February of that year to implement these decisions. A few months later, on 3 May, Bangabhaban's order stated that if all the notes, summaries or proposals were not written in Bangla, the president would not accept them. On 4 May, the Cabinet Division informed everyone about the order.

On 12 February 1984, the order of the Ministry of Establishment stated, "Although the Heads of State and Government have repeatedly ordered the use of Bengali at all levels, it has been partially implemented, but not anywhere." The government was facing unwelcome criticism. In the midst of this outrage and criticism, on 17 November 1999, UNESCO recognized 21 February as International Mother Language Day.

On 17 February 2014, a bench of the High Court in an order directed the government to take action against all signboards, billboards, banners, vehicle number plates, nameplates of government offices, English advertisements in the media and use of mixed language. Three months after the court's order, on 14 May 2014, the Ministry of Public Administration asked the city corporations, municipalities and cantonment boards to implement the order. 

However, since that did not happen, on 18 August 2015, the court stated in strong language that there has been no progress in the use of Bangla. Later, in a letter on 23 February 2016, the Ministry of Public Administration requested the Ministry of Local Government to ensure the use of Bangla on signboards, billboards, banners and vehicle number plates. 

The letter, written by the secretary of the Local Government Ministry, said that signboards, billboards and banners have not been replaced in Bangla instead of English. The jurists thought that this was against the law of introduction of the Bangla language, rules and orders of the High Court.

The government then issued a public notice stating that the nameplates, signboards, billboards, and banners of the organisations (excluding embassies, foreign agencies and related fields) which have not been written in Bangla yet, should be removed on their own initiative and replaced in Bangla within the next seven days. Otherwise, legal action will be taken against the concerned organisation but this has not been implemented yet. This is due to the indifference of different governments at different times.

Bangla is our mother tongue and state language, as well as an internationally recognised language. The devaluation of the Bangla language is by no means desirable in a country which has crossed the golden jubilee of its independence. It is high time the concerned authorities took effective steps to protect the dignity of the Bangla language and used Bangla at all levels.

It is important to take effective measures for the implementation of Bangla as well as administrative initiatives for the widespread promotion and dissemination of the language. Institutions that work with the Bangla language must be active, in particular, institutions like the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangla Academy and the International Mother Language Institute. Besides, it is necessary to ensure the supervision and accountability of their work.

Emran Emon is a researcher, journalist and columnist. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.