page_title: Bengali nationalism
section_title: Bengali Language movement(1952)
hierarchical_section_title: Bengali nationalism / Factors behind the rise of  Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan / Bengali Language movement(1952)
caption_attribution_description: February 22, 1952 After GAYEBI JANAZA at Dhaka Medical Collage SOK RALLY on DU road, Dhaka, East Pakistan
context_page_description: Bengali nationalism is a form of nationalism that focuses on Bengalis as a singular nation. It is one of the four fundamental principles according to the original Constitution of Bangladesh. It was the main driving force behind the creation of the Independent nation state of Bangladesh through the 1971 liberation war. The people of Bengali ethnicity speak Bengali Language. Apart from Bangladesh, people of Bengali ethnicity live across the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and some parts of Jharkhand known as united Bengal during the British period. After the 19th century's Bengal Renaissance occurred in Bengal, it then was the four decades long Bengali Nationalist Movement that shook the region led by Saifur Siddique, which included the Bengali Language Movement, the Bangladesh Liberation War and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
context_section_description: The Language movement was a political and cultural agitation in East Pakistan that centred on the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan and a broader reaffirmation of the ethno-national consciousness of the Bengali people. Discontent against Pakistan's "Urdu-only" policy had spilled into mass agitation since 1948 and reached its climactic strength after police fired upon and killed student demonstrators on 21 February 1952.
  After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the central government under Muhammad Ali Jinnah ordained Urdu to be the sole national language, even though the Bengali-speaking peoples formed a majority of the national population. He did so because Urdu was a neutral language – it was not the mother tongue of any one of Pakistan's ethnicities. The policy, compounded by sectional tensions served as a major provocation of political conflict. Despite protests in 1948, the policy was enshrined into law and reaffirmed by national leaders, including several Bengali politicians.
  Facing rising tensions, the government in East Pakistan outlawed public meetings and gatherings. Defying this, the students of Dhaka University and other political activists started a procession on 21 February. Near the current Dhaka Medical College Hospital, police fired on the protesters and numerous protesters, including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, and Abdul Jabbar were killed.
  The deaths of the students served to provoke widespread strikes and protests led mainly by Bengali political parties such as the Awami League (then Awami Muslim League). The central government relented, granting official status for Bengali. The Language movement served as a catalyst for the assertion of the Bengali cultural and national identity within Pakistan.
caption: 22 February rally after Janaja at Dhaka Medical College on Dhaka University road, Dhaka.
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