Language Movement Day, also called State Language Day or Language Martyrs' Day, is a national holiday of Bangladesh taking place on 21 February each year and commemorating the Bengali language movement and its martyrs. On this day, people visit Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the movement's martyrs and arrange seminars discussing and promoting Bengali as the state language of Bangladesh.
Nurul Amin was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the eighth prime minister of Pakistan from 7 December to 20 December 1971. His term of only 13 days as Prime Minister was the shortest served in Pakistani parliamentary history. He was also the only vice president of Pakistan.
The Bengali language movement was a political movement in former East Bengal advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script.
Ghulam Azam was a Bangladeshi Islamist politician. He was the former leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.
Shahed Ali was a Bangladeshi litterateur and cultural activist. Aside from being an educationist and his journalism, he was one of the founders of the nationwide Tamaddun Majlish which initiated the Bengali language movement. He edited multiple magazines, was the founding secretary of the Islamic Academy, and is best known for his magnum opus, the short story Jibrailer Dana.
The Tamaddun Majlish, formerly Pakistan Tamaddun Majlish, is an Islamic cultural organization in Bangladesh, established in 1947 by Principal Abul Kashem in the former East Pakistan. It was one of the founding organizations of the Bengali Language Movement.
There were not many political parties at the time of Bengali Language Movement. The Bengali Language Movement was a political movement in former East Bengal advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language. There was Muslim League, who were at the treasury bench. The movement was mainly supported by Awami League, National Congress and East Pakistan Communist Party.
Mohammad Abul Kashem is generally considered as a pioneer and the architect of the historic Language Movement of Bangladesh. He was also a politician, author and an eminent educationist. He founded the Islamic-oriented Bengali cultural organisation Tamaddun Majlish.
The Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod was the leading political organisation in the Bengali Language Movement of East Bengal.
Pakistaner Rashtra Bhasha: Bangla Na Urdu? is a small book published on 15 September 1947 by Bengali language movement pioneer Principal Abul Kashem on behalf of Tamaddun Majlish. Within one month of Pakistan's Independent by publishing this book, it demanded introduction of Bengali as one of the state language of whole Pakistan. This book also strongly advocated for Bengali as the medium of education, court language and for its use in the offices in East Pakistan.
The Khelafat Majlish, also spelt Khelafat Majlis, is a far-right Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in 1989 by Deobandi scholar Azizul Haque along with Ahmad Abdul Qadir and former leaders of the National Awami Party and Tamaddun Majlish. Since its founding, it has only ever gained one seat in the country's National Parliament. The party split into two in 2005, with Azizul Haque's faction taking the name Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish.
ʿAzīz al-Ḥaqq ibn Irshād ʿAlī ad-Dākawī, simply known as Azizul Haque or by his epithet Shaykh al-Hadith was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, politician, writer, translator and Islamic lecturer. He is the founder of Khelafat Majlish and first Bangali translator of Sahih al-Bukhari. He was Vice Chancellor of Jamia Rahmania Arabia Dhaka.
Abdul Gafur Hali was a Bangladeshi folk lyricist, composer and singer of the Maizbhandari musical tradition. He was the first folk play author to use the Chittagonian language. His works are created mainly in his native language of Chittagong. He was also known by his Sufi name, Gafur Hali Maizbhanderi.
Kazi Golam Mahbub was a Bangladeshi activist and politician. He participated in the Language Movement that took place in the erstwhile East Pakistan.
Mohammad Abdul Muktadir was a Bengali geologist and academic who was killed in the 1971 Dhaka University massacre. He is considered a martyr in Bangladesh.
Rawshan Ara Bachchu was a Bangladeshi activist. She took part in Bengali Language Movement in 1952. She was awarded Anannya Top Ten Awards in 2009.
Golam Rahman is an educationist, media researcher and communication expert of Bangladesh. He has served as the Chief Information Commissioner of the Information Commission of Government of Bangladesh. He also served as the chairman of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) the chairman of the department of mass communication and journalism of University of Dhaka as well as head of journalism department of Daffodil International University. He is the editor of Bengali daily Ajker Patrika.
Mamunul Haque is a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar, politician, academic, writer, editor, and social reformer. He is the former Joint Secretary General of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, Secretary General of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Shaykh al-Hadith of Jamia Rahmania Arabia Dhaka, Founder of Babri Mosque Bangladesh, Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Rahmani Paigam, President of Bangladesh Khelafat Youth Majlish and Khatib at Baitul Mamur Jame Mosque. He is also a leading figure in several organizations, including Rabetatul Waizin Bangladesh, an organization of Islamic speakers in Bangladesh. He is particularly popular with the hard-line speaks against atheists, secularists, anti-islamist and was arrested for leading the movement in this regard. 65 organizations including Bangladesh Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo League have started a massive movement across the country demanding banning, arrest and exemplary punishment of him for promoting Islamic fundamentalism. In 2021, his second wife accused him of raping her.
Zobeda Khanom Chowdhury, also known as Zobeda Rahim Chowdhury, was one among the leading woman who partook in the Bengali language movement from Sylhet and a pioneering women in Bangladeshi politics.
Khan Sahib Syed Muhammad Afzal was a Bengali politician. He served as a member of both the Bengal Legislative Council and the Bengal Legislative Assembly. Afzal was noted an early supporter of the Bengali language movement.
