Limiting Bangla under the shadow of Urdu: birth of tragedy for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Rahman’s The Unfinished Memoiirs

This study examines autobiographical text The Unfinished Memoirs (2012) by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a founding figure of Bangladesh, to analyze how Bangla, as the mother tongue, functions as a site of political resistance following the imposition of Urdu as the sole national language after Pakistan’s independence. Moreover, it foregrounds linguistic disparity and the demand for the official recognition of Bangla culture, which subsequently evolved into a movement to rethink existing nationalism and imagine a new nationalism in the form of Bangladesh. Methodologically, the study employs a textual analysis method within a constructivist framework. The analysis is informed by Benedict Anderson’s concept of imagined communities, alongside theoretical perspectives on language ideology, religion, and cultural identity. The findings reveal that people maintain a deep-rooted attachment to their mother tongue as an ideological construct over the politically and religiously imposed languages. Furthermore, the study concludes that the attempts of Pakistan to suppress Bangla instead intensified popular attachment to the mother tongue, deepening language loyalty and transforming it into a powerful symbol of resistance. That finally reinforced collective identification within the imagined community. Ultimately, the study urges policymakers not to underestimate linguistic sensitivities, since doing so may trigger tensions akin to a ‘Frankenstein’s monster’.