Linguistic diversity is the backbone of Mother Tongue movement
An unfortunate case of Bengali
In 1999 Bangladesh initiated 21st Feb as International mother tongue day, the date was important due to two incidents, first happened in 1940 in British India & second incident was of 1952 in united Pakistan. For initiator 21st Feb 1952 was an important day but when UN general assembly accepted resolution in 2007, same Bangladesh was against linguistic diversity & the supporters of the non Bengali mother tongues were struggling against Bengali majoritarianism since 34 years. I visited Bangladesh in 2008 and interviewed many people including Mr Kamal Lohani who accepted that during Bengali language movement in united Pakistan we were in favour of Bengali but were against linguistic diversity. He told me that in 173 it was Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman who had imposed majority Bengali language in a way to convert all non Bengalis. it is often observed that many language movements behaves exclusively and in their narratives linguistic diversity often missing and this is the vital issue.
International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999. The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. The UN General Assembly welcomed the proclamation of the day in its resolution of 2002.
On 16 May 2007 the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/61/266 called upon Member States "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world". By the same resolution, the General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, to promote unity in diversity and international unders.tanding, through multilingualism and multiculturalism and named the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to serve as the lead agency for the Year
Currently, 40% of the global population lacks access to education in their native language, a figure that exceeds 90% in certain regions https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day
At least 45% of the estimated 7000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
This year UN theme is Multilingual education – a pillar of learning and intergenerational learning
جنج بنگلہ دیش بنن بعد غیر بنگالی مادری زباناں نال دھرو ہویا اوس توں اسی51 سال بعد وی سبق نہیں سکھیا۔اس دھرو دا موڈھی کوئی ہر نہیں سگوں شیخ مجیب الرحمن تے بنگالی اشرافیہ سی۔اس دی وجہ اک زبان دی حاکمیت دا بھوت ہیگا جس وچ زباناں دی رنگارنگی توں انکار والا مائنڈ سیٹ چلدا ہے۔عالمی ماں بولی دیہاڑ تے ایس گل نوں چیتے رکھنا لوڑی دا ہے۔انٹرویو2008 ڈھاکہ،بنگلہ دیش
اس دن کے لیے 21 فروری کا انتخاب اس لیے بھی موزوں قرار پایا کیونکہ ایک بنگالی رفیق السلام نے اس کے لیے انتھک کوششیں کی تھیں۔ یہ وہی دن ہے جب 1952 کے سال خواجہ ناظم الدین سرکار نے متحدہ پاکستان کے صوبہ مشرقی بنگال میں بنگالی زبان کا حق ماننے والوں پر گولی چلوائی تھی۔ اس زمانے میں پاکستانی ریاست کے کرتا دھرتا "واحد قومی زبان" کو وطنی قوم پرستی کے لیے ضروری گرداننے کے لیے اسی زغم میں مبتلا تھے جسے یورپ والے بھی خیرآباد کہتے جارہے تھے۔
بنگلہ دیش میں اس دن کی مناسبت سے شہید مینار بھی بنایا گیا ہے مگر خود بنگلہ دیش کے بانی اور وزیراعظم شیخ مجیب الرحمن نے بنگلہ دیش بنانے کے بعد "واحد قومی زبان" کے ہی راستہ کو اپنایا اور بنگلہ دیش میں موجود دیگر زبانوں بشمول چٹاکانگ کے پہاڑی علاقوں میں بولی جانے والی زبانوں کو بنگلہ دیشی قوم پرستی سے نکال باہر کیا۔
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