I pay a tribute to martyr (shaheed) Rafiq as well as other martyrs in language movement of 1952. Rafiq was born in Manikganj and he was brutally killed in February 21, 1952 in Dhaka city during the Bangla language movement. Martyr Rafiq (his full name was Rafiq Uddin Ahmed), was a student of Jagannath College, Dhaka. Rafiq was born at Paril village, in Singair upazila of Manikganj district. He was the eldest son of Abdul Latif and Rafiza Khatun. Rafiq passed his matriculation from Baira School in 1949. Later, he completed his Intermediate from Devendra College, Manikganj. He took part in the procession of studensts on February 21, 1952 at Dhaka University to press their demand to declare Bangla as the state language of erstwhile East Pakistan instead of Urdu. That procession broke the Section 144, which was imposed by the Pakistan government. Police opened fire to the students inside of the Dhaka Medical College. Rafiq received a bullet in his head and died immediately. Rafiq is probably the first martyr of the language movement. He was later buried at the Azimpur Graveyard, by the then Pakistan government. But his grave was lost and could not be identified later.
I was born in Manikganj too. So we all are proud of martyr Rafiq, a pride of the nation. That is why Manikganbj has become an integral part of the language movement history of the nation. We are glad to see that the main road of Manikganj city has been named after martyr (shaheed) Rafiq. Unlike any other nation in the world, the people of Bangladesh sacrificed lives for the establishment of the mother tongue. It's a history written in blood. It's a sacrifice for the love of the mother tongue. It's also an achievemnent of all the Bangla-speaking people in the world.
As a nation with an undaunted fighting spirit, we are grateful to the UNESCO for declaring the 21st February as the Internrtaional Mother Language Day in 1999. But the demand of all the people of Bangaldesh now is to recognise Bangla as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Since 1952, every year the month February comes in our lives with the spirit of fighting. Such as: fighting for our Bangla language, fighting for our country Bangladesh, and fighting for our democracy. In fact, we fought several times for different issues, fulfilled our demands, established our rights, and continued going ahead. We know that still we have miles to go to make our country Bangladesh sonar bangla (Golden Bengal), which we dreamt in 1971, using the courage, we showed in February 21, 1952; through language movement agianst the then government of Pakistan.
Mainly the spirit and appeal of February or Ekushey must be of giving emphasis on practicing pure Bangla language in writing, speaking and teaching others. We observe that many of us use a new langauge, may be 'Banglish' (?)! But why? Let us talk/ speak in solid Bangla. No need to mix up English with Bangla. Also the government, Bangla Academy, public and private universities, scholars, writers and journalists in Bangladesh and abroad should translate more books into English and other languages from Bangla so that our collection becomes rich. And the people can explore and collect the essence of universality of Bangla language. Also why do we not disseminate information regarding Bangla language movement through our foreign missions? We need to feel holy smell of every letter of the Bangla alphabet.
Definitely we need to reach the Goals of Sustainable Development (SDGs) by 2030. Let every girl and boy of our country know every Bangla alphabet that carries the holy touch of blood of all the martyrs in language movement in 1952. The new born-baby, who has come to this world today, has the right to know our alphabet, to know about the martyrs, to learn solid Bangla language. Also to sing the historical song on Ekushey: "amar vayer rokte rangano Ekushey February/ amiki vulite pai�?" The government and others are responsible to sincerely ensuring those rights and needs of every citizen of our country.
We, the people of Manikganj request the government and Dhaka University authority to at least name a residential hall of Dhaka University or Jagannath College after martyr Rafiq. Also a road from TSC to Dhaka Medical College should be named after him.
Above all, the spirit of February or Ekushey is equal to our lives. But the people regret that despite the invaluable contributions of the martyrs for Bangla language, the family members of the five language martyrs: Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar, Shafiur and Salam are never invited by the Bangla Academy during the inauguration of the Ekushey book fair! They are never provided due privilege in terms of placing bouquets at the Central Shaheed Minar on the dawn of February 21!
Bangla Academy and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh have been doing a great job by arranging a month-long Ehushey book fair from February 01 to last of the month every year. Muktodhara, a noted publishing house started a little sell in front of Bangla Academy in the 21st February in 1972. Chittaranjan Saha of Muktodhara took the initiative. Later, other book publishers joined there unofficially. Gradually it became official and the most popular book fair of Bangladesh. Bangla Academy took over organization of the fair in 1978. In 1984 it was named omor Ekushey book fair.
Parvez Babul is a journalist, poet and author in Bangladesh
