Preserve Bengali culture, traditions to continue Bangabandhu's work: Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stressed the need to preserve Bengali culture and traditions to ensure that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's contributions to the nation do not go in vain.

Hasina made the remarks while addressing a programme organised by the Awami League on Monday to mark International Mother Language Day.

The Awami League chief said the Language Movement of 1952 was not only a struggle to establish the primacy of Bangla language but also to maintain cultural norms.

"We have our own culture and traditions. We have to keep that. Pakistani rulers hurt our culture, language. The protests were started by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while he was a student of Dhaka University's Law Department. When the Pakistanis decided to impose Urdu as the state language, they started protesting.

"Not only did he protest, but he also formed the Language Struggle Council and started the movement with other parties. During that period, he was repeatedly imprisoned.”

Quoting a speech delivered by her father Bangabandhu at the Shaheed Minar in the early hours of Feb 21, 1971, Hasina said, “The 1952 movement was not limited to the Language Movement. This movement was a movement for the establishment of social, economic, cultural and political rights.

"We can at least understand from this that Language Movement wasn't just about the language. This movement sought to achieve our standing as a Bengali nation. And he did it for us. We have to hold on to it.”