Claim: There was a movement in favor of the Bengali language.

Bengali -LRB- -LSB- bɛŋˈɡɔːli -RSB- -RRB- , also known by its endonym Bangla -LRB- -LSB- bɑːŋlɑː -RSB- বাংলা -LSB- ˈbaŋla -RSB- -RRB- , is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian Subcontinent . It is the national and official language of the People 's Republic of Bangladesh , and the official language of some eastern and north-eastern states of the Republic of India , including West Bengal , Tripura , Assam -LRB- Barak Valley -RRB- and Andaman and Nicobar Islands . It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India . With over 250 million speakers , Bengali is the seventh most spoken native language in the world . It has been influenced by other language families prevalent in South Asia , notably the Dravidian , the Austroasiatic , and the Tibeto-Burman families , all of which contributed to Bengali vocabulary and provided the language with some structural forms . Dictionaries from the early 20th century attributed slightly more than half of the Bengali vocabulary to native words -LRB- i.e. , naturally modified Sanskrit words , corrupted forms of Sanskrit words , and loanwords from non-Indo-European languages -RRB- , about 30 percent to unmodified Sanskrit words , and the remainder to foreign words . Dominant in the last group was Persian , which was also the source of some grammatical forms . More recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing , mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style . Today , Bengali is the primary language spoken in Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken language in India .   Bengali literature , with its millennium old history and folk heritage , has extensively developed since the Bengali renaissance and is one of the most prominent and diverse literary traditions in Asia . Both the national anthems of Bangladesh -LRB- Amar Sonar Bangla -RRB- and India -LRB- Jana Gana Mana -RRB- were composed in Bengali . In 1952 , the Bengali Language Movement successfully pushed for the language 's official status in the Dominion of Pakistan . In 1999 , UNESCO recognized 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the language movement in East Pakistan . Language is an important element of Bengali identity and binds together a culturally diverse region .