Historic Beltala now water pump
Any discussion on the Language Movement cannot take place without mentioning Beltala. It lies right beside Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Amtala, another historic site by its own right. It was at Beltala where the first public meeting on the movement took place.
From late 1947 till the last chapters of the language struggle, it bore witness to countless meetings, gatherings and protest rallies. The historic strike that was called for February 21, 1952 was also announced from there.
But if you went to Beltala today, you wouldn't find anything commemorating the events that were so significant for our country's birth. Instead, you'll come across a water pump.
In December 1947, the First Education Conference held at Karachi declared Urdu as Pakistan's lingua franca. This angered its majority Bangla speakers, who put in motion a wave of protests in East Pakistan.
As part of this, on December 6, a students' meeting at Beltala demanded the instatement of Bangla as a state language. A protest rally was later brought out from there. Both the meeting and the rally were the first of their kind.
It was presided over by DU's physics Department lecturer Abul Kashem, popularly known as Principal Abul Kashem. Speaking at the meeting was Prof Munier Chowdhury, Farid Ahmed, DU Prof AKM Ahsan --who later became CSP secretary --, student leader Abdur Rahman Chowdhury (later became a judge), Kalyan Das Gupta and S Ahmed.
The historic event played host to another general meeting on March 16, 1948. As students marched towards the Parishad Bhaban, shouting anti-state and pro-Bengali slogans, police obstructed them with gunfire, teargas and baton charge, which injured some of the student protesters.
Denouncing the attack, every educational institute in Dhaka carried out a strike on March 17. On the same afternoon, a programme took place at Beltala. Presided over by Naimuddin Ahmed, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Shamsul Haque, Kazi Golam Mahbub, Oli Ahad and more spoke at the seminar.
After Khwaja Nazimuddin declared Urdu as the state language from Paltan Maidan on January 27, 1952, the language movement started heating up even more. In protest, a strike and gathering took place at Beltala on February 4.
Language veteran Ahmed Rafiq told The Daily Star, "Dhaka University's arts building -- now known as Kala Bhaban -- premises was buzzing with students. From Amtala to Beltala, they made noise everywhere. Although the state had put up obstacles, they were yet to attack us."
"From 10-11 in the morning, thousands of students from everywhere joined us at Beltala in waves," he said. "From here, we called for the strike on February 21."
He moved on to confess his grief over the Beltala's condition today. With lament, Rafiq said, "There's no sign of any of this illustrious history at Beltala today. In the passage of time, we have lost all the memories that made it so significant for the Language Movement."
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