21st February is celebrated as International Mother Language Day. If you are a Calcuttan (or Kolkattan), you couldn’t miss it as the day is observed as Bhasha Dibosh in solidarity with the former East Pakistanis who wanted Bangla/Bengali to be declared the official language, long before the birth of Bangladesh.

As history records, the Bhasha Andolon (language movement) of the 1950s in East Pakistan led to immense social and political conflict. It literally coerced the Pakistani government to grant official status to Bengali language in 1956. It even gave birth to a new country... Bangladesh, the only country created due to a language stir that evolved into a political movement for secession.