February 21 is our International Mother Language Day. On the 21st of 1952, the then students, teachers and people of various professions took out a peaceful procession in the capital Dhaka to demand the mother tongue Bengali. But at that time the then Pakistani police and government forces stopped them from that peaceful movement and at one point opened fire in which Rafiq Shafiq Barkat Jabbar and many others were martyred. Since then it is celebrated internationally as Mother Language Day. Later it was recognized as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. Our country is Bangladesh which was formerly part of East Pakistan and became Bangladesh in 1971 through independence war. However, every year this day is celebrated with due dignity in our country.
History bears witness that Bengalis are the only country and nation in the world that agitated for the home of the nation and protected the mother tongue. Because at that time the number of Bengali speaking people was more than the people speaking Urdu, the Pakistani government at that time demanded to make it the state language, but then the students and politicians of Bengal rejected it and strongly demanded to declare Bengali as one of the state languages. But since then, the movement to protect the state language and the movement to protect the mother tongue started. However, since then, in the memory of those who were martyred in the Basa Movement, flowers were placed at the Shahid Minar, and various events were organized and rallies were taken out. Even in various institutions prayers are offered for the forgiveness of their souls.
We also took out a rally with the students in our institution and also celebrated the day with various cultural events. Although I posted after two days but we celebrated this day properly starting from distribution of various awards to commemoration of martyrs. Our students enjoyed this day very much and also participated in it by dressing up in Bengali attire and decorating with various flowers. It is International Mother Language Day and a day to remember and be grateful to those who died for the protection of mother tongue.