In 1905, the British Raj partitioned Bengal into East Bengal and West Bengal.[4] The British introduced the Morley-Minto Reforms in 1909 which made the electorate system based on religion and East Bengal was largely Muslim.[4] The Bengal Provincial Muslim League was created to represent Bengali Muslims. The two Bengals were joined back together in 1912 in a decision by the British which was unpopular among the Muslims which feared it would harm the interests of their community.[4] The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India decided to partition Bengal and in 1947 Bengal was partitioned again.[4] West Bengal went to India and East Bengal went to Pakistan becoming East Pakistan.[4] The Partition of India took place along religious lines with Muslim majority areas going to Pakistan.[5]
East Pakistan, where Bengali was the language spoken by the majority, opposed the move by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, to make Urdu the national language.[4] The people of East Pakistan demanded Bengali be made a national language in the Bengali Language movement.[4]Krishak Sramik Party demanded autonomy for East Bengal in 1953 and won the provincial election against the Pakistan Muslim League in 1954.[4] A. K. Fazlul Huq, leader of the Krishak Sramik Party, becomes the chief minister of East Pakistan.[4] On 31 May 1954, the Krishak Sramik Party was removed from power.[4] Chief Minister A. K. Fazlul Huq and party general secretary Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were placed under house arrest on charges of separatism.[4]
From 1963 to 1965, East Pakistan presented a case of economic deprivation with resources from the province benefitting West Pakistan at the cost of development in East Pakistan.[4] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, now leader of the Awami League, was arrested in 1966 and charged in the Agartala conspiracy case, which accused prominent East Pakistanis of trying to separate the country with help from India, in 1968.[4] The 1969 East Pakistan mass uprising saw the charges in the Agartala conspiracy case being dropped.[4]Sarbadalia Chhatra Sangram Parishad was created to press the government of Pakistan for the Independence of East Pakistan.[4] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is released from prison on 22 February 1970 by President Ayub Khan.[4] On 10 March 1970, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman demanded autonomy for East Pakistan based on the Six Point program of the Awami League.[4] Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani ends a public event with the slogan East Pakistan Zindabad on 23 November.[4]1970 Bhola cyclone killed 300 to 500 thousand people in East Pakistan.[5] The people of East Pakistan found relief efforts by Pakistan government inadequate and felt neglected.[4]
Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won 288 seats out of 300 seats in the provincial assembly.[4] It won 167 of 300 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan.[4] Despite the overwhelming victory, the Awami League was not allowed to form a government by the military administration of Pakistan led by General Yahya Khan.[4] On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a historic speech to resist the West Pakistan administration, through refusing to follow their orders and paying taxes.[6] The crowd at the event chanted Jai Bangla (victory to Bengal).[4] On 19 March, soldiers of Pakistan Army from East Pakistan and West Pakistan had a small skirmish at the Gazipur Ordnance Factory after the East Bengal Regiment refused to fire at crowds of protesting Bengalis.[4] On 24 March, soldiers of East Pakistan Rifles raised the flag of independent Bangladesh in Jessore District.[4]
On 26 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence on radio after, Pakistan launched a crackdown on East Pakistan called Operation Searchlight and declared martial law, which was heard by only a limited number of people due to the broadcasting system used.[4] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was detained by Pakistan Army soon after.[4] On 27 March, Major Ziaur Rahman, officer of the East Bengal Regiment, declared the Independence of Bangladesh from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and called the actions of Pakistan Army a massacre while asking for intervention of the United Nations.[4] On 10 May Bengals members of provincial and national assembly gathered in Kolkata and created a government in exile.[4] It created the Proclamation of Independence which was read from Baidyanathtala in Meherpur District.[4]
Bhutan recognized Bangladesh on 6 December and India a few hours later on the same day.[7][8][9] They were the first two countries to recognize independent Bangladesh.[8]East Germany recognized Bangladesh on 11 January 1972, becoming the third country to do so.[10] On 7 February, Israel recognised Bangladesh following a request by the foreign minister of Bangladesh, Mostaq Ahmad.[11]
Independence Day
The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March on the day Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh.[12] Various programs are organised in the country to mark the occasion.[12] The National Flag of Bangladesh is flown on all government buildings.[13] The Independence Day Award was introduced by the Government of Bangladesh in 1977.[14] The award is given on the Independence Day of Bangladesh on 26 March.[14] The first Independence Day was celebrated on 26 March 1972.[15] President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed the nation.[15]
The launch of Operation Searchlight and declaration of Independence marked the start of Bangladesh Liberation War on 26 March 1971.[16] The war lasted nine months and ended on 16 December 1971.[16] The Pakistan Army targeted religious minorities and political supporters of the Independence of Bangladesh.[17] The actions culminated in what is known as the Bangladesh Genocide.[17] During the war, 15 million refugees from East Pakistan moved to India.[17]
Language played a key role in the Independence movement of Bangladesh, and became a key feature in nation building after the Liberation War against Pakistan. Since the foundation and independence of Pakistan in 1947, language was a key dividing issue in the newly established state. The new Pakistani elite faced a difficult task of uniting all its citizens into a united Pakistani nation, and one immediate question that arose with the new state, was about the language that would be used to conduct Pakistan’s state business. The Pakistan Educational Conference of November 1947 proposed Urdu as the national language, even though only 3% of Pakistanis spoke the language, compared to 56% who spoke Bengali. The first population census revealed that Pakistan had 78 million inhabitants, of whom 44 million (55 per cent) lived in East Pakistan. However, the country’s rulers were concentrated in West Pakistan and used Islam to dismiss Bengali’s protests as un- or anti-Islamic. Students in East Pakistan held meetings and demonstrations and formed the Language Action Committee in December 1947 when they learnt about the plans to make Urdu the national language. [20]
The Language Movement, or Basha Andolon, started by students at schools, colleges and universities, and these converted political grievances into popular grievances that forced the Pakistan state to change its policies. The Bengali Language Movement reached its peak and fuelled the emergence of Bengali ethno-nationalism, which led to the creation of Bangladesh as an independent state and the breakup of Pakistan in 1971. When the Bengali Language movement began to challenge West Pakistani domination in East Pakistan, the citizens and the press in West Pakistan thought that it was orchestrated by Hindus, communists and anti-state elements trying to destabilize the state. [21] Thousands of young Bengali boys and girls from schools and universities in Dhaka assembled on the campus of Dhaka University marching and shouting slogans like “Bengali as a national language!” (rastrabhdsa bamla cai!). As soon as the students passed the campus gates, armed policemen baton-charged them, the students retaliated by throwing bricks, and then the policemen responded by firing tear gas and firing into the crowd. Many were injured, and five people died, with more demonstrations, killings, and arrests continuing for a few more days. A memorial was then erected on the spot where the first killings had taken place. A 1984 textbook introduces the language movement with the following, “February 21 of 1952 was the first united expression of Bangladesh’s collective consciousness and a first bold step toward the independence movement”. The language movement became a symbol for Bengali nationalism, the claim by Bengali textbooks is that ‘Bengali’ became the primary marker of Bangladesh’s identity.[22]
Sufia Kamal, a Bangladeshi poet, wrote the poem “Our Language: The Language of Bengal” in 1952, during the time of the language movement, the poem shows how strongly language played a role in the national identity of the new state.
For our language many have died,
drawn from the arms of our mother
but down the road, smeared with their blood
I hope freedom will come to this land:
the simple language of a simple people
Will meet the demands of this our land.
The independence of Bangladesh in December 1971, regarded the national identity as a regional one, rather than a religious one like Pakistan’s foundation. The new Bengali elite envisioned the society that was taking place in the delta as distinctly Bengali, where Bangladesh stood as a nation-state, a homeland to the Bengali community that had been unjustly treated in Pakistan. The main pillars of the new nation were language, a regional style, and a search for modernity.
The Bangla Academy was an institution established in the 1950s as a result of the language movement, after independence, it became a major publisher of textbooks, dictionaries, folk literature, etc. The written and the spoken language were two distinct languages, whose differences were greater than that of other languages. The language of books was distinct, and without a trace of the popular, based on Sanskrit. This fact took a turn with Tekchand Thakur’s “Alarer Ghorer Dulal”, which was written in the language that everyone understood. From that moment on books began to be written in the learned and popular languages in Bangladesh.[23]
There is some dispute between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist party, founded by Ziaur Rahman, on who declared the Independence of Bangladesh.[4] When a different party comes to power, they change the history books of Bangladesh to either prefer Sheikh Mujibur Rahman or Ziaur Rahman.[4]
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