The movement for mother language virtually achieved perfection after Bangladesh got freedom in 1971 after a long battle against Pakistan with the help of India, writer Alvin Dilip Bagchi on Wednesday said.

Addressing a seminar titled “Aa-Mori Bangla Bhasha …” organized to mark the International Mother Language Day at Dinabandhu Mancha here on Wednesday, Mr Bagchi, who hails from Bangladesh but now lives in Vancouver in Canada, said: “Ekushe (21) February is our identity; it is our pride and we depend on it whenever we face any political crisis.

In fact, the movement which began in 1952 was complete in 1971 after India as well as West Bengal lent their hands. We are in no position to repay the help.” “We don’t believe any division in Bengal. We believe in undivided Bengal. We believe in Ruposee Bangla, written by poet Jibanananda Dash,” he added.

He also told the audience that the School Board under the Canadian government has decided to include ‘Ekushe February’ in its syllabus and that it has been decided that the date in the calendar will be marked red with three letters MLD (Mother Language Day). Two apolitical organizations– Shikad and Sampritiorganised the International Folk Song Festival and international seminars in Siliguri to mark the International Mother Language Day with the help of the Information and Cultural Affairs department and the Tourism department. The entire programme was arranged by organizational secretary Jayanta Kar and secretary Shikad, Sayed Nazrul Hoque.

Pranab Bhattacharya, the chairman of the Siliguri District Primary School Council, conducted the seminar by inviting three more persons who spoke on the subject on Wednesday. As one Hindi-speaking Sanjay Sharma addressed the audience, explaining the implications of vernacular language, another, a Nepalispeaking man, Surya Lama, enlightened the crowd on the subject in Bengali language.

Notably, Mr Lama is a teacher in the Bengali department of the North Bengal University. He was born in Birbhum area and specialized in the Bengali language in his higher studies. Addressing the audience, Mr Lama said: “I am a Nepali, but I started studying in Bengali, and I found interest in Bengali as we discovered both are the same and originated from Arya Bhasha.

Now, Bengali is my language for work and worship (Dharma).” “My plan is to begin research about similarities between the two languages, Nepali and Bengali,” he added. An artist, who made the cover page of a souvenir published to mark the International Folk Song Festival and International Mother Language Day, Nihar Mazumdar said: “I speak Bengali and I draw my paintings (to express it) in Bengali.

I put my signature on the paintings.” While the principal of Siliguri College Dr Sujit Ghosh, claimed Bengali is “gradually being shifted from the mainstream,” Utpal Mandal, the former head of the department of Bengali in the North Bengal University, discussed the subject in three parts.

Mr Mandal raised the question of ‘rights’ and ‘limited rights’ of Bengali language, though it is in the fifth position in the world. He also pointed out the reasons as “they are virtually reluctant to use my mother language and finally use English as an official language, due to a lack of self-confidence.”

Citing several examples like Rabindranath Tagore, the recipient of the Nobel prize in Bengali literature, and Satyajit Ray, who bagged the Oscar for a Bengali film, Mr Mandal expressed unhappiness as he had to stop publication of a magazine in Bengali as writers failed to provide him write-ups in the Bengali language on a regular basis.

Bhawaiya singer and composer from Rangpur in Bangladesh, Rathindranath Roy, the son of noted singer Haralal Roy, said: “The language will never fade away if we pay respect to it.” Recalling his memories from 1966 to 2005, during his student life as a student of Dhaka University in the Bengali department and an employee of a company, Mr Roy explained how officials had to begin writing in Bengali as an official language.

“Just after partition in 1947, the people of Bangladesh understood they were being controlled by another imperialism controlled by Pakistan,” Mr Roy said. Before singing a famous song ‘Aamar Bhaier Rakte Rangano Ekushe February, Ami Ki Bhulte Pari’, written by Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, Mr Roy recalled his “emotional attachment” to the Martyr’s Memorial on 21 February in Dhaka and removal of banners and posters written in Urdu and English.