YEARS OF EKUSHEY FEBRUARY CELEBRATING THE MOTHER TONGUE
A few words Every human being loves his own mother, his mother tongue and mother land. This is true of Bangladesh, a new nation, as this book will unfold The independence of Bangladesh did not come in a day. Historians route it to 1857, some trace it back to the coming of Ikhtiaruddin Khilji to Bengal in 1203 A.D. Some of us look back far beyond, to the origin of Bangla language, its literature, folklore, traditions and long history nourished by the ‘Bangali’ people. But 21st February 1952 is a landmark, a turning point to make a nation out of our teeming millions, 130 million to be precise. This book is a humble step. It brings out the story of 50 years of language movement to the world. Some of our writers have written several volumes in Bangla, but so far few lines have come out in English. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Bangla Language Movement and specially to introduce to the outside world the significance of the International Language Day declared by U.N. Our Research and Publications Department has translated some relevant articles from Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, Professor Munier Chowdhury and others, which have certainly enriched this volume.
