How did the name “Bangladesh” come about?

Ejaz Mamun
The evening of December 5, 1969. Although the meeting was organized to mark the death anniversary of Hossein Shaheed Suhrawardy, a secret feeling was awakened in the hearts of the people present. At that time, movements, demonstrations and struggles for rights were going on across the country for months. The only words on people’s lips were equality, dignity, and self-identity.

Amidst the concentrated enthusiasm of millions of people in the garden of light and darkness, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the soul of Bengalis, came forward on stage.

There was firmness in his voice, and a faith in the horizon in his eyes. He spoke not only about politics, rights, and autonomy, but also about individuality and nationhood. In whose language was the spirit of Nazrul, in whose eyes was the desire and longing of Bengalis for thousands of years.

He announced the dream and identity of the thousand-year-old suffering Bengalis. He pronounced in a clear and proud voice, “At one time, an attempt was made to erase the last trace of the word ‘Bangla’ from the heart of this country, from the map page forever.…The existence of the word ‘Bangla’ has not been found in the name of anything other than the ‘Bay of Bengal’.…On behalf of the people, I am announcing that from today, instead of ‘East Pakistan’, the name of the eastern province of Pakistan will be simply ‘Bangladesh’.”

The people in the sea of ​​people that day suddenly stopped. The lines of poet Nazrul seemed to become tangible and merged in the hearts of the people—

“নমঃ নমঃ নমঃ বাঙলা দেশ মম,
বুকে নিরবধি বহে শত নদী…”

It was as if every river, every field, every secret pain and every love in this country had awakened at once with the love of the name Bangladesh… Bangladesh. Hearing the name of one’s own country for the first time in one’s own ears, a ray of unmistakable beauty spread among the Bengalis.

East Pakistan was an imposed name. Where there was no history, no flavor of language. “Bangladesh” was the identity of the Bengalis, their roots, and the ray of light to emerge from the darkness of birth. Through the name “Bangladesh”, Mujib returned the people of Bengal to the center of their language, culture, and history. He returned the name that was being tried to be erased to the hearts of the people, to the soil, and to the map.

The next day, on December 6, oppressed people’s leaders Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Ataur Rahman Khan issued a statement supporting Bangabandhu’s naming of the country Bangladesh.

Bengalis had thought about the land of their identity and self-respect before, or the rulers had thought about it. The independent Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula also gave the name “Banga” to several presidencies like Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam. During the British rule, this region was called the Bengal Presidency. During the partition of Bengal in 1905, there was an administrative division in the whole of Bengal. The western part of Bengal became West Bengal and the eastern part became East Bengal.

After the end of British colonial rule, when Bengal was divided into India and Pakistan in 1947, Pakistanis wanted to name East Bengal East Pakistan. This is where the controversy began. As a result of the movement, Bengali was recognized as the mother tongue of East Pakistan in 1952.

In 1957, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a young member of the Constituent Assembly, protested against the name “East Pakistan” while giving a speech in Karachi, saying that the name East Bengal had a history and tradition. “And if the name East Pakistan is to be retained, then the public opinion of the people of Bengal must be tested. Whether they will accept this change of name – a referendum must be held for that.”

Later, a secret organization of the Chhatra League was established in 1962 called Nucleus. They called this region of exploited Bengalis independent East Bengal.

After hearing the announcement of the name “Bangladesh”, a sense of awareness swept through the capital and villages. People felt that they were no longer a shadow of anyone else; they were a nation with its own identity.

In 1969, this naming was just a proposal. Then a more difficult path began. Elections, deprivation, repression, then armed struggle. But the first step on the path to achieving its great independence was the declaration of the name “Bangladesh” by the Father of the Nation.