Emeritus Professor
Emeritus Professor, University of Dhaka
You, Rabindranath, did not believe in the state; you believed in society. In your view, in the Indian subcontinent, society was paramount, while the state was an imposition—an intrusive entity. The state was external; society was our own. You held a firm belief that we could shape society in our own image.
In March 2025, the country is still grappling with the abuse of women and children. The newspapers continue to print harrowing accounts of these atrocities. Ah, what has become of the country just seven months after the student-public uprising of July-August, with the dream of building a new Bangladesh? Where is the government? Where is the rule of law?
As we celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the Language Movement, it is essential to express regret over the fact that the Bengali language has not received the respect it deserved as the state language of an independent country. Despite the expectation that Bengali should have attained its rightful place, it has not. The reasons for this are numerous, including the coexistence of three different education systems in the country, the lack of Bengali language use in the higher judiciary, and the absence of effective measures for the widespread use of Bengali at all levels of society. However, to find the root cause, we must look deeper.
You, Rabindranath, did not believe in the state; you believed in society. In India, society was paramount, and the state was a particular nuisance — this was part of your philosophy. The state was external, while society was ours. You had faith that we would shape this society according to our own will.
Nationalism is inherently political; it raises questions about the formation and dissolution of states. Language, however, transcends the state and holds possibilities that are not only vast and profound but also both democratic and socialist in nature. This is because linguistic identity has the power to surpass class divisions. Our language movement was democratic in multiple ways. Firstly, it aimed to establish the rights of the Bengali-speaking majority within the Pakistani state structure. Secondly, it sought to unite Bengalis not on the basis of class or communal identity but through linguistic identity, which carried an inherent socialist aspiration.
Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury is an eminent educationist, well-known fiction writer, essayist and columnist. In 1971, as a teacher of Dhaka University, he witnessed the Bengali non-cooperation movement, the horrific genocide on the night of March 25, and various events. Apart from this, he observed the events of Dhaka University as a timeless witness. He spoke about the memory of 1971, left-wing politics and various issues in an interview with Rahat Minhaz, Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of Jagannath University.