Mohammad Abul Kashem (known as Principal Abul Kashem, 28 June 1920 – 11 March 1991) is generally considered as a pioneer and the architect of the historic
Language Movement of Bangladesh. He was also a politician, author and an eminent educationist.
He founded the Islamic-oriented Bengali cultural organisation
Tamaddun Majlish
The Tamaddun Majlish ( bn, তমদ্দুন মজলিশ), formerly Pakistan Tamaddun Majlish, is an Islamic cultural organization in Bangladesh, established in 1947 by Principal Abul Kashem in the former East Pakistan. It was one of the ...
.
Early life
Kashem was born on 28 June 1920 at a village Cheebandy-Barama under
Chandanaish Upazila
Chandanaish ( bn, চন্দনাইশ) is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh.
History
Chandanaish is one of the first inhabitant of the early settlers of Chittagong. Muslim traders and preachers from the ...
of district of
Chittagong. In 1939, Kashem obtained his Matriculation Examination from Boroma Trahi Menka High School with first class and Government district scholarship. He passed Isc from Chittagong government College in 1941 with first class. From
Dhaka University, he obtained a Bachelor of Science (honors) in Physics in 1944 and a Master of Science degree in physics in 1945. He completed his master's thesis under the supervision of the famous mathematician and physicist
Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose (; 1 January 1894 – 4 February 1974) was a Bengali mathematician and physicist specializing in theoretical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for ...
.
[Mahmud, Akif bin, Principal Abul Kashem: Matrivashake gire je full bekoseto. The Weekly Bangla Patrika, Friday 24 March 2006]
Involvement in Language Movement
Kashem was associated with the literary and cultural activities of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
for five decades. He contributed in the movement for recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages of Pakistan soon after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. On 1 September 1947 he founded the Pakistan
Tamaddun Majlish
The Tamaddun Majlish ( bn, তমদ্দুন মজলিশ), formerly Pakistan Tamaddun Majlish, is an Islamic cultural organization in Bangladesh, established in 1947 by Principal Abul Kashem in the former East Pakistan. It was one of the ...
as a non-political cultural organisation to mobilise students, intellectuals and the people in general for the Bengali language. On 15 September 1947 he published a booklet entitled, ''
Pakistaner Rashtra Bhasha: Bangla Na Urdu?'' (Pakistan's state language: Bengali or
?) demanding introduction of Bengali as one of the state language of whole Pakistan. This booklet also strongly advocated for Bengali as the medium of education, court language and for its use in the offices in
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...
. Also his untiring efforts let to the formation of the first
Rashtrabhasa Sangram Parishad (State Language Committee of Action) on 1 October 1947 with
Nurul Huq Bhuiyan as the convener and he himself as the treasurer. On 6 December 1947, a meeting was held under the president-ship of Kashem in Dhaka University campus which protested the resolution of the education week held in Karachi suggesting Urdu as the state language and the lingua franca of Pakistan. A protest procession was brought out from the meeting, which met
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin ( bn, খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; ur, ; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali to ha ...
, the provincial Chief Minister, and other ministers. Khawaja Nazimuddin gave a written assurance to the Action Committee that he would do the needful to introduce Bengali as one of the state language of Pakistan. Kashem actively participated in organising a countrywide strike on 11 March 1948, to press for the language demand. As the outcome of the strike, on the eve of the impending visit of
Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...
(the founder of Pakistan) to
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
, the then Provincial Government had no other alternative but to sign an agreement with the action committee on 15 March 1948 for introducing Bengali as one of the state language of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
Career
Kashem began his career as a lecturer in the Physics department at
Dhaka University in 1946. As a lecturer, he was the first person who delivered lectures in the Bengali at Dhaka University. He held his lecturer position until 1953.
Kashem was actively associated with politics. He was co-founders of the Khilafat-e-Rabbani Party in 1952. He was a member of the provincial assembly as a
United Front
A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...
nominee in 1954 from the Patia-Boalkhali constituency in Chittagong.
While a member of the Legislative Assembly, he moved a resolution for introduction of Bengali as the medium of education at all levels. On 30 September 1956, he proposed Bengali as the state-language and it was approved unanimously and thus, Bengali received constitutional recognition as one of the State language of Pakistan.
He founded the weekly ''Sainik'' in 1948, which acted as a mouthpiece of the historic
Language Movement.
He felt the need of introducing Bengali as medium of higher education in colleges and universities. With his dream, he established the
Bangla College
Government Bangla College ( bn, সরকারি বাঙলা কলেজ) is a public college located in the northwest part of the capital city of Dhaka in Bangladesh.The college was established in 1962 by Principal Abul Kashem to promote ...
at
Mirpur, Dhaka in 1962 and served the college as Principal until 1981. He was the forerunner in introducing textbooks in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
for higher education and contributed much in initiating the Bengali version of the question papers for higher education.
![Ekushe Padak](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Ekushe_Padak.jpg)
Kashem received a number of national and social awards, including ''
Independence Day Award
The Independence Day Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পদক), also termed Independence Award ( bn, স্বাধীনতা পুরস্কার), Swadhinata Padak, and Swadhinata Puroskar, is the highest state award given by t ...
'' in 1993, ''
Ekushey Padak
Ekushey Padak ( bn, একুশে পদক; lit. "Twentyfirst Award") is the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, introduced in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. The award is given to recognize contribut ...
'' in 1987, ''
Bangla Academy Literary Award'' (for his book Biggan Somaj O Dhormo) in 1982, ''Islamic foundation Award'' in 1988, ''Pakistan Writers guild award'' in 1964 etc. He was accorded a national reception in Dhaka in 1989 which was attended by eminent scholars and litterateurs of Bangladesh and India. In 2007,
Dhaka City Corporation
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) was the former self-governing corporation that was entrusted with the task of administering the municipal affairs of Dhaka. The incorporated area was divided into several wards. Each ward has an elected ward commissio ...
named the former Darussalam Road of Mirpur-1 as ''Bhasha Sainik Principal Abul Kashem Road'' for his contribution to historic Language Movement.
[Mahmud, Akif, Dui Banglar Shudijoner drestite Principal Abul Kashem. Weekly Thikana, 30 June 2006]
Kashem died at the Suhrawardy Hospital in Dhaka on Monday 11 March 1991.
List of works
A prolific writer, Kashem authored nearly 100 books including textbooks on science for postgraduate student and on education, Islam, culture and politics. These include 40 textbooks on physics and other science subjects for college and university levels. Some of his well-known books are:
Bengali
English
References
External links
*
*
Bangla language movement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashem, Mohammad Abul
Academic staff of the University of Dhaka
Bangladeshi politicians
Bangladeshi male writers
Bengali writers
People from Chittagong
1920 births
1991 deaths
Bangladeshi Sunni Muslims
Bengali language movement activists
Recipients of the Ekushey Padak
Recipients of the Independence Day Award