| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
| গণপরিষদের অধিবেশনে বাংলা ভাষাকে অন্তর্ভুক্তকরণের প্রশ্নে বির্তক | পাকিস্তান গণপরিষদ | ২৫শে ফেব্রুয়ারী ১৯৪৮ |
Mr. Dliirendranath Datta. (East Bengal: General)
Mr. President, Sir, I move:
"That in sub-rule (1) of rule 29, after the word “English" in line 2, the words “or Bengalee" be inserted."
Sir, in moving this - the motion that stands in my name - I can assure the House that I do so not in a spirit of narrow Provincialism, but, sir, in the spirit that this motion receives the fullest consideration at the hands of the members. I know, Sir, that Bengalee is a provincial language, but, so far our state is concerned, it is the language of the majority of the people of the state. So although it is a provincial language but, as it is a language of the majority of the people of the state and it stands on a different footing therefore. Out of six crores and ninety lakhs of people inhabiting this State, 4 crores and 40 lakhs of people speak the Bengalee language. So, Sir, what should be the State language of the State? The State language of the state should be the language which is used by the majority of the people of the State, and for that, Sir, I consider that Bengalee language is a lingua franca of our State.
I know, Sir, I voice the sentiments of the vast millions of our State. In the meantime I want to let the House know the feelings of the vastest millions of our State. Even, Sir, in the Eastern Pakistan where the people numbering four crores and forty lakhs speak the Bengalee language the common man even if he goes to a Post Office and wants to have a money order form finds that the money order is printed in Urdu language and is not printed in Bengalee language or it is printed in English. A poor cultivator, who has got his son, Sir, as a student in the Dacca University and who wants to send money to him, goes to a village Post Office and he asks for a money order form, finds that the money order form is printed in Urdu language. He cannot send the money order but shall have to rush to a distant town and have this money order form translated for him and then the money order, Sir, that is necessary for his boy can be sent. The poor cultivator, Sir, sells a certain plot of land or a poor cultivator purchases a plot of land and goes to the Stamp vendor and pays him money but cannot say whether he has received the value of the money in Stamps. The value of the Stamp, Sir, is written not in Bengalee but is written in Urdu and English. But he cannot say, Sir, whether he has got the real value of the Stamp. These are the difficulties experienced by the Common man of our State. The language of the State should be such which can be understood by the common man of the State. The Common man of the State numbering four crores and forty millions find that the proceeding of this Assembly which is their mother of parliaments is being conducted in a language, Sir, which is unknown to them. Then, Sir, English has got an honored place, Sir, in Rule 29. I know, Sir, English has got an honored place because of the International Character.
