The Anti-Heroes of the Language Movement

8/3/2019 The Anti-Heroes of the Language Movement

1/3

The Anti-Heroes of the Language MovementAuthor(s): Badruddin UmarReviewed work(s):Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 12 (Mar. 21-27, 1998), pp. 636-637Published by: Economic and Political WeeklyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4406547 .

Accessed: 28/11/2011 02:35

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Economic and Political Weekly.

http://www.jstor.org

8/3/2019 The Anti-Heroes of the Language Movement

2/3

It is not surprising hata financialstructurewhichgenerates imilarassetswouldremainfragile and vulnerable, epecially underuncertainty.A defeat as well as accommo-dation,bythenation tate o theconsequencesof these upheavalssymbolises the triumphof finance over industry(and state power)ingeneraland hedefeatof theweaker tatesto the collective forces of supranationalfinance and rich nations on the other.Notes

[This paper was presentedin a conference on'Globality, dentityandLocality'whichwas heldin Sariska duringFebruary22-24, 1998. 1 amthankful o the participants nd to Amiya Bagchiin particular or helpful comments.]1 J RHicks,CriticalEssaysonMonetaryTheory,1967.

2 JayatiGhosh, CoerciveCorporation: he Statein IndonesianCapitalism', Social Scientist,November-December1996.3 Sunanda Sen 'Growth Centres in South-East Asia in the Era of Globalisation'UNCTADDiscussion Papers, No 118, Sep-tember 1996.4 See fora documentation f thesefacts,DonaldP Hanna, 'The IndonesianExperience withFinancial Sector Reform' in Yilmaz Akyuzand GuntherHeld, Finance and the RealEconomy,ECLAC and UNCTAD, Santiago,September 1993.5 See for documentations, Sander Thoenes,'Indonesia: The Offshore Borrowing Trap'Financial Times, January 12, 1998. SanderThoenes, 'IMF Warns Suharto that It MayCancel$43 billion Rescues',FinancialTimes,February , 1998.GeorgeGraham,Indonesia:Bankers Wearily Gauge Risk', FinancialTimes, January9, 1998.

BANGLADESHT h e Anti-Heroes o f t h e LanguageMovemen tBadruddin UmarAfter instituting Bengali as the state language in the constitution, theruling classes of Bangladesh completely abdicated their responsibilitytowards enriching the knowledge available in their mother tongue. Soas Bengali languishes, the lower classes, who cannot afford access toany other medium of instruction, continue to be deprived ofopportunities to improve their living standards.THE principal objective of the languagemovement of 1952 was fulfilled whenBengali was declared as a state languagealongwith Urdu n the Pakistan onstitutionof 1956. To bedeclaredas the state anguageof Pakistanwas not theonly objectiveof thelanguage movement. It was necessary tohaveBengalias a statelanguage n order odevelopBengalias a mediumof instructionas well as a languageof education,scienceand culture.Thus, after its being declaredas a state language,it was necessaryto goandfightforthedevelopmentof theBengalilanguage. But this necessary task soonbecamea matterofno concern or heBengalibourgeoisie,even underPakistan.They justsought satisfaction in recalling andruminating he strugglesand achievementsof the 1952 language movement, but didlittle ornothing o work orthedevelopmentof the Bengali language.This attitude of the local Bengalibourgeoisiebecamequitewell-definedafterthe establishment of Bangladesh as anindependent tate.The Bengalirulingclass- the party n power, its politicalallies andassociated intellectuals derived greatsatisfaction n theconstitutionaldeclaration

of Bengali as the state language and thelanguageof instruction t alllevels, from heminor schools to the universities.But thatwas the end of it for the ruling classes inindependent Bangladesh. Henceforward,they began to act as the anti-heroesof thelanguagemovement, hough heycontinuedto glorify for political advantage "their"heroic acts during the 1952 languagemovement and the "greatsacrifices" theymade duringthat struggle.It is one thingtodeclareBengaliasa statelanguageandas a languageof instruction,it is anotherthing to practically make itpossibleforBengalitobefullyusedas such.This is lecause a constitutionaldeclarationis not a magic wand by which a meredeclarationanbeimplementedn thespecificareasfor which sucha declaration s made.A numberof relatedwork has to be donein order to make anydeclarationeffective.Nothingwasactuallydonein Bangladeshas a follow upof the constitutionaldeclara-tion regardingthe language. Bengali wasintroduced s a mediumof instructionuptothe university level. Consequently, somevery good teachers who did not know thelanguageproperlyhad to give uptheir obs.

But no arrangementwas made for makingminimum number of books available inBengalifor the various faculties.The crisisbecame particularly acute when Englishteaching was withdrawn from the schoollevel, and there was no effective way oflearningEnglish by the ordinarystudents.Thus no books were made available inBengali,andbecauseof alack of knowledgeof English,books available n Englishwereand still are inaccessible to the studentsatlarge.Or, notherwords,aseriousdichotomywas created in the system of instructionwhich resultedin the continuous oweringof the standardof education.Inorder opreventaseriouscrisis ikethis,it was necessaryto work out the phasesinwhichBengaliwouldbegraduallyntroducedat various evels: And forthat t was furthernecessary not to practically abolish theteaching of English and undermine theimportanceof thatlanguagefor acquisitionof knowledge.What was reallyimportant orpromotingeducationaladvancementwas to establishabureauof translation y thegovernmentandundertake he work of translating cientificliterature, iterary,philosophicaland otherclassics, reference books and all sorts ofnecessary reading and research materialsfrom foreign languages into Bengali. Thebureauof translation husestablishedcouldappointpersonshavingadequateknowledgeof various languages - French, German,English,Russian,Italian,Spanish,Chinese,Arabic,Persian,Sanskrit nd heother ndianlanguages like Urdu, Tamil, Telugu,Malayalam, tc.Theyalso couldcommissionBengalischolars romBangladeshandIndialiving either in Bangladeshor in India,orabroad, ortranslating articular ooks.Thegovernment could directly undertakepublicationsof such translationsandat thesame time couldencourageandgive subsidyto privatepublishers or the publicationsoftranslatedworks.Itdoesnotrequiremuchwisdomtorealisethat it was the most importantstep in thelanguagemovement nthenewindependentstateof Bangladesh.But nothingwas donein that directionand the educationsystemwas left thus unattended.What s surprisingis that beginning from Qudrat-i-KhudaEducationCommission o the last one whichrecently submitted ts recommendations othepresentgovernmenthave maintained ninexplicable silence in this matter n spiteof therepeateddemand orthe establishmentof a bureauof translation.There s no otherway of describinga class of peoplelikethisother than calling them anti-heroesof thelanguage movement.Thedeep-rooted auses of thisconspiracyof silence regarding the development ofBengaliandof the entireeducational ystemhave to besought n the character f theclass

636 Economic and Political Weekly March21, 1998

8/3/2019 The Anti-Heroes of the Language Movement

3/3

which came to rule Bangladesh since theoverthrowof Pakistan from our soil.This is a class of people who came topossess an incredibleamountof propertyand wealth primarily through primitiveplunder,robbery,corruption ndterrorism.It is no surprise hatthe cultureof this newrulingclass would be in harmonywith theways of acquiring his wealth. Wealth canbeacquired vernightbythe methodsabovementioned,butacquisitionof cultureis anentirely differentmatter.It is notpossibleto go into all the detailsof policy and actualwork of the successivegovernments ince the end of 1971, but itwill not beincorrect o saythatthe men andwomenwho came to rule this countryhadlittle imeand nterest o turn otheeducationandculture f the commonpeople.Theyandtheir camp-following intellectuals shedprofuse earsduring he monthof Februaryfor the martyrsof the language movementof 1952 and cry hoarse for using Bengaliin allspheresof ouractivities,but in mattersofpolicyandactualwork heygrosslyneglectthe generaleducationalsystem, the systemofinstructionntheBengalimedium chools,collegesanduniversities,whichconcern hegreat masses of students, the children ofthose who areexploited and victimised bythe rulingclasses in a thousand ways.But this does not mean that the rulingclasses of people neglect the educationoftheirown children.Far rom t.Theyprovidemuch better education for their childrenthrough he model schools, cadet collegesand expensive English medium schools,where eachingof English language s doneseriouslyand helevel of instruction s muchhigher.Those who want to and can affordto provide still better education for theirchildren send them abroad, mostly to the"fairy and"called the US.It is true that the children of the rulingclasses, in any society divided into classes,get bettereducation han the othersas theyeatbetter ood,wearmoreexpensiveclothes,live nbetter ousesandreceivebettermedicaltreatment uring llness.Butthesituation nBangladesh s really deplorablewhen onecomesto think hatBangladeshneglects themother ongueof itspeoplemuchmore thanit used to be under Pakistan.Every ear eports ppearnthenewspapersaboutexpulsions of thousandsof studentsduring chool andcollege examinations.Inorder odivertattention rom herealcauses,studentsof the new generationare blamedand abusedas thieves, and moral sermonsare delivered by persons responsible forconductingthe education system and theaffairsof the country.Some cry hoarse formore strict policing of the examinationcentres.But the factis, the students annotbe heldresponsible for the phenomenon of mass

thievery in the examination centres. Thetruthis that the students are not properlypreparedat theirrespective institutions oransweringthe questions which are dishedout to them at the examination halls.Oneortwo such cases could be treatedasexceptions, but when it happensthat moststudents lend themselves to thievery pro-vided they get the opportunities or canforcibly create such opportunities, it isclearlya social phenomenonfor which noparticular individual can truly be heldresponsible..Thispointmaybeunderstoodmoreclearlywhen we consider the fact that cases ofthieveryat the modelschools,cadetcollegesandother xpensiveEnglishmedium choolsare quite negligible or do not exist at all.Nothing is more stupid and mischievousthan to think and say that the children ofpeople who are rich or earn their moneythroughunfairmethods,aremorallybetterand more honest than the children of thepoorerclasses of peoplewhogenerallyearntheir iving by thesweat of their hrow. Thecontinuous lowering of the standard ofeducation and the virtual collapse of theeducational ystemcanbedirectlyconnectedwith various forms of terrorism esorted o

by some students in the Bengali mediuminstitutions, particularly the universities.Again, no such terrorism xists in the otherkind of educational institutions.Thus, the present educational system isveryclearlydividedbroadlyntotwosystemson the basis of medium of instruction onefor the generally lower income groupsandthe otherfor the higher ncome groups.Thelatter,by virtueof theirbettereducation,getfar better opportunities in their post-educationalcareer.The situationwouldnothave been as bad as it is today, if theyremained in the country and lived theireconomic and cultural ife : the midst ofourpeople.Butwhatactuallyhappens s thatalargenumber f studentswhoreceive bettereducationeitherdonotreturno Bangladeshor leave thecountry orbetteropportunitiesabroad. Thus, after receiving their higheducationat theexpenseof thecountry, heycontribute o theeconomyof othercountriesand fertilise other soils.This is the "heroic"achievement of theanti-heroesof the languagemovement, therulingclasses of Bangladesh, n the sphereof education nd his stheir olidcontributionto the developmentof the mother ongueofthe Bengalees duringthepost-1971 period!

General Elections, 1996Special Series

'Karnataka Decline and Fall of the Congress Machine',Harold Gould, September 13, 1997'Uttar Pradesh- Divisive Struggles Influence Outcome',Paul R Brass, September20, 1997'The Defeat of EduardoFaleiro: South Goa ParliamentaryElections',ArthurG Rubinoff, September27, 1997'The Saffron Wave: The Eleventh General Elections in Maharashtra',Sikata Banerjee, October4, 1997'Local Issues Dominate in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu',ArthurG Rubinoff, October 25, 1997'BJP's Emergenceas ThirdForce in Orissa',RamashrayRoy, November 8, 1997'Regional Parties Dominatein Punjaband Haryana',Paul Wallace, November 15, 1997'MajorRole of Caste and Social Factions in Bihar',Binoy S Prasad, November 22, 1997'BJP Politics: Looking Beyond the Impasse',Pramod K Kantha, November 29, 1997'Political Sadhus and Limits to Religious Mobilisation in North India',VirginiaVanDyke, December 6, 1997A few complete sets of the above issues are availableat Rs 195 perset. Forsupplyoutside India US $ 30 perset. Paymentby bank drafts n favour of 'Economic andPolitical Weekly'.

Economic and Political WeeklyHitkariHouse284 Shahid Bhagat Singh RoadMumbai 400 001

Economic and Political Weekly March21, 1998 637