What the Bengalees struggled for was recognition when the first Constitution of Pakistan was published (Late February 1956) where Bangla and Urdu were both recognized as co-state languages for the Central Government of Pakistan. Also Bangla was accepted as the provincial state language of East Pakistan and there never was any bar or restriction on Bengalees speaking their mother language or learning their own alphabets. Mahfuzur Rahman is an economist and he has hit on the truth that the Bhasha struggle was basically an economic and political struggle for establishing the legitimate democratic right of the people and has nothing to do with richness and sweetness of either Bangla or any other mother language anywhere (including Punjabi, Poshtu, Sindhi, Baluchi etc of then West Pakistan). It was therefore their democratic right not to be economically denied jobs and control of the central government helm and activities because of a superimposed language alien to them. The struggle was to establish Bangla as one of the State languages of Pakistan Central Government, because (and this is the important point of note) Bengalees constituted the majority population of Pakistan. In any case the richness of Bangla Bhasha or the emotional sweetness of one's 'mother tongue' has nothing to do with the Bhasha struggles and sacrifices that went on in 1952, and before and after. But above all it has the singular advantage of being readily understood in any part of our country provided an existing standard, whether written or spoken, is followed. It has an evolved alphabet, grammar, lexicon and literary richness which most mother tongues in the land do not have.

Bangla Bhasha has a history of at least a thousand years of development behind it. There is a clear distinction between a 'language or Bhasha' and a tongue or 'Buli'. This goal has already been diluted by inadvertent slide and confusion between 'Bangla Bhasha' and 'Matri Bhasha'. Mahfuzur Rahman (18 Feb), “In Defence of Standard Bangla Pronunciation” is a timely reminder that the Bengali language binds us in a Nation, and that its standardization in written and spoken form is a must to preserve this unity.

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Bengali alphabet pronunciation