Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman expressed his profound love for the Bengali language (Bangla) and the Bengali people (Bangladesh) as he stood at the sacred Central Shaheed Minar—the eternal symbol of the 1952 Language Movement martyrs—on the midnight of February 20–21, 1971.
By invoking the blood of the language martyrs, pledging to repay their debt, and calling Bengalis to prepare for ultimate sacrifice to secure their rights and dignity, he transformed grief into unbreakable resolve, linking the language struggle directly to the fight for self-determination and national liberation.
The Language Movement of 1952 was also a movement to establish the rightful rights of Bengalis. Sheikh Mujib, the greatest advocate of Bengali nationalism, achieved an overwhelming victory in the 1970 general election, securing the support of 75 million Bengalis. Following the path of ’52, the people’s victory was achieved.
In the midnight between 20 and 21 February 1971, a torchlight procession was taken out from the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka. Bangabandhu offered floral tributes at the Shaheed Minar and addressed a massive gathering of students and people in the Shaheed Minar premises before the procession. A portion of that speech is quoted below—
“Prepare yourselves house by house to shed more blood in the movement for the Bengalis’ self-rights. Bengalis will no longer be martyrs. This time, they will live as victorious warriors (ghazi). Those who established the country’s rights with the blood of their chests, those who freed me with their own blood—I stand here at this Shaheed Minar in the middle of the night, swearing in the name of Allah: I will repay the debt of their blood, no matter what. The souls of the martyrs are today crying out in every home in Bengal—Bengali, do not become a coward; secure your self-rights.
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“Today, from this altar of the martyrs, I call upon the people of Bengal: Prepare yourselves; if necessary, we will shed blood. Even after our tremendous success in the election, conspiracies against Bengal continue today. The conspiracy that led to this 21 February, the conspiracy that has repeatedly forced Bengalis to shed blood—that conspiracy has not yet ended. But the exploiters should know: the Bengalis of ’71 are very different from those of ’52.
“We harbour no grudge against anyone. We want self-rights. We want Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochs, and Pathans to live with their own rights, just as we do. But that does not mean 70 million Bengalis will remain slaves to anyone. Brotherhood does not mean servitude—in the name of harmony and unity, Bengal must no longer be treated as a colony or a market. Not only by bullets, but even by starvation, people are becoming martyrs. Those conspiring to thwart the Bengalis’ demand for self-rights, those wanting to turn Bengalis into beggars and slaves, will be defeated at any cost.
“Hard days lie ahead of us. I may not remain among you. After all, every human being must die one day. That is why today I call upon you and the people of all Bengal: prepare for the utmost sacrifice. Let Bengalis never again be humiliated or insulted. Let the blood of the martyrs not go in vain.
“Long live the memory of the martyrs.”
This powerful address, delivered at the hallowed ground of Shaheed Minar, reflects Bangabandhu’s deep emotional bond with Bangla—the language for which countless lives were sacrificed in 1952—and his unwavering devotion to Bangladesh as a sovereign nation worthy of dignity, equality, and freedom.
He framed the ongoing struggle not as mere politics but as a sacred duty to honour the martyrs’ legacy, ensuring Bengalis would rise as proud, self-reliant people rather than oppressed subjects. His words galvanised the nation toward the Liberation War that followed just weeks later.
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