Borderland Narrative of the Partition of Bengal - Professor Hans Hock @ UIUC, 25 April 2019

Event Date: Thursday, April 25, 2019
Time: 4:00 pm–5:00 pm

Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL

Co-sponsored by the India Studies Fund at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC)

Banglatā, Islam, and language.

In this presentation I take a somewhat broader historical view, trying to contextualize the relationship between East Pakistan/East Bengal/Bangladesh with West Bengal, with special focus on language as a marker of identity.

In addition, I invite you to join me in entertaining the idea that there is and has been a dual identity for many Bengali Muslims, especially in East Bengal, a tension between what may be called Banglatā and Islam.

1905: Curzon partitions Bengal (reunification in 1911)

Initial reaction by Muslim intellectuals is highly negative

The Central Mohammedan Association of Calcutta condemned the proposed partition of Bengal at a meeting held in February, 1904. Most of the speakers at the said meeting were very important Muslim leaders of the time. They were Mir Motahar Hussain, Zamindar of Barisal; Seraj-uI-IsIam Chaudhary of Chittagong, member Bengal Legislative Council; and Abdul Hamid, Editor of the ‘Muslim Chronicle’.

Soon after, the local population of East Bengal realizes that there are economic benefits, and they support the division.

Subsequent Hindu reactions lead to the view among Muslims that the National Congress serves Hindu interests; this makes the Muslim League more attractive.

Bangla vs. Urdu (first take)

Late 19th century: Social activists such as the Muslim feminist Roquia Sakhawat Hussain were choosing to write in Bangla to reach out to the people and develop it as a modern literary language.

1937 Lucknow Session of the Muslim League: Bengali delegates petition that Bangla to be recognized as a language of Indian Muslims. Muhammad Ali Jinnah and most non-Bengali delegates reject this petition and argue that only Urdu can be the national language of India’s Muslims. This marginalizes not only Bengali Muslims but also Muslims from other areas, such as Malayalam-speaking Muslims of Kerala. Similarities to the attempts to impose Hindi as national language of India (and to Bengali and South Indian resistance)

1947 vs. 1971 — Partition of India vs. Partition of Pakistan.

20 June 1947, Bengal Legislative Assembly, in three separate votes, agrees on the partition of Bengal, with even a 58:21 majority among the non-Muslim-area members.

Partition and “population exchanges” were accompanied by a large amount of violence and atrocities, but the violence was not as extensive and ferocious as that in the west.

The Bangladesh war of liberation, which ended in 1971, engendered a much higher level of violence. The (West) Pakistan army killed some 3 million Bengalis, of whom about 2.5 million were Hindus. Moreover, there was widespread destruction of Hindu businesses and religious sites.

Atrocities recurred numerous times after 1971, driven by Islamist groups. At the same time, many Bangladeshi intellectuals protested against these events, including the well-known writer Taslima Nasrin (Lajja ‘shame’), who had to go into exile in 1994 and, sadly, met with opposition in India as well.

Banglatā vs. Urdu Nationalism and the partition of Pakistan.

Right after the 1947 Partition, the government of Pakistan proceeds to remove Bangla from from its currency and postal stamps.

The minister of Education, Fazlur Rahman, starts the procedure of making Urdu the single official state language.

Student protests in December 1947 and March 1948. They are joined by numerous East Bengal intellectuals, both Muslim and Hindu, including Professor Nurul Huq Bhuiyan, Dhirendranath Datta (member of the Constituent Assembly), and the legislators Shamsul Huq, Prem Hari Burman, Bhupendra Kumar Datta, and Sris Chandra Chattopadhyaya.

Dhaka, 21 and 24 March 1948.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah condemns the Bengali language movement as a “Fifth-column” effort to divide Pakistan.

19th-century kind of arguments in favor of “one nation – one language (– one religion)’

‘But let me make it very clear to you that the State Language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one State Language, no Nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of other countries. Therefore, so far as the State Language is concerned, Pakistan’s language shall be Urdu.’

Subsequent developments

The Pakistani government wavers between rejection and accommodation of request for Bangla recognition

21 February 1952 – violent suppression of protests in East Pakistan

“Ekushey Februyāri” Bhāṣā Andolan; later adopted in West Bengal; UN “International Mother Language Day” (1999, 2008)

Official settlement of the “language issue” in 1956

But tensions continue, both economic and cultural (with Bangla language being an essential identifier of culture)

1971: “Operation Searchlight” by the Pakistani army against Bengali intelligentsia and cultural institutions, as well as the Hindu minority – some 10 million flee to India, some 3 million are killed

Urdu-speaking Mohajirs (originally from Bihar) play a major supporting role

Declaration of Bangladeshi independence (with Indian military support in December 1971)

Recognition by the UN in 1972

Bangla becomes the official language of Bangladesh (with English playing a highly reduced role, but …)

Banglatā’s linguistic consequences

Urdu of Mohajirs marginalized

Non-Indo-Aryan “tribal” languages marginalized: Khasi, Santali (Austro-Asiatic), Kurukh (Dravidian), Koch, Garo, Mizo … (Tibeto-Burman)

Regional, often very different varieties marginalized: Bishnupriya Manipuri, Chakma, Chittagonian, Sylheti

These are especially vulnerable, since they are considered “Bangla”

“One country – One language” redux ?