Khulna becomes city of rallies

On February 27, 1948, some days after Dhirerandranath Datta's proposal of Bangla as the state language was opposed by the Muslim League, a protest meeting was held in Khulna's Daulatpur College.
Though it was chaired by Muslim League leader Abdul Hamid, the speakers at the meeting voiced their support for Bangla as the state language.
That year, the Language Movement in Khulna was organised by the progressive faction of the Muslim Chhatra League (Shahid-Hashem group, Chhatra Federation, and the forward bloc of the Chhatra congress). The Communist Party too significantly influenced the movement in the district.
Key figures in shaping the movement there included Swades Basu, Dhananjay Das, Santosh Dasgupta, Anwar Hossain, Tahmid Uddin and Zillur Rahman, among others.
On March 10, in a bid to quell the movement, police arrested several leaders, including Sailesh Ghosh, Swadesh Roy, and Tahmid Uddin. Despite this, the movement went on.
Like in other districts, a large-scale campaign, led by the Chhatra Federation, was carried out across Khulna on March 11, in line with the central programme.
Students from various educational institutions, including BL College, Daulatpur College, and District School, marched through the city. Posters were put up all around, while slogans were chanted demanding Bangla as the state language.
The demonstrators gathered at Gandhi Park (now Shaheed Hadis Park), where a meeting was held to demand the recognition of Bangla as the state language.
From that afternoon, police began arresting activists, including student leader Anwar Hossain. He was later transferred to the Rajshahi prison.
In 1950, Anwar Hossain was martyred during the Khapra Ward massacre.
After Khwaja Nazimuddin's announcement of Urdu as the state language on January 27, 1952, the students and locals of Khulna took to the streets.
On the night of February 18, students met at the Azad Library and decided to launch a campaign, making February 21 the movement's main day.
On February 21, a full-scale hartal was observed, while leaders and activists marched throughout the city. Students at several educational institutions also observed strikes and boycotted classes and a student rally was organised at Daulatpur College.
The same day, Khulna received news of police killing students in Dhaka. Within moments, protesters swarmed the streets. Slogans such as "Rashtrobhasha Bangla chai!" (We want Bangla as the state language!) and "Nurul Amin er kolla chai!" (We want the head of Nurul Amin!) reverberated.
From February 22 onwards, Khulna city effectively became a city of rallies.
That day, students from various educational institutions were joined by people from all walks of life for a mass procession.
When the girls of Khulna's Coronation School decided to wear black badges for their procession, they could not find any fabric to make them with. However, a student, Laily, came to school wearing a black saree. She changed into a different one and allowed the students to cut pieces of cloths from her saree to make the badges so that the mourning procession could be held in a befitting manner.
On February 23, a hartal was observed, while the slogans were still chanted by students and locals on the streets. Female students in large numbers joined in. Some of the women leaders included Majeda Ali, Anwara Khatun and Rokeya Khatun Shiri, among others.
In the afternoon, a public meeting, chaired by student leader MA Gofur, was held at the Municipal Park. Speakers included Abu Mohammad Ferdous, Altaf Khan and others.
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