The High Court has issued a rule asking the government why directive should not be given to the authorities concerned to issue a gazette declaring Kazi Nazrul Islam as ‘National Poet’ of Bangladesh.
The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Ahmed Sohel issued the rule on Wednesday following a writ petition filed in this regard.
The secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the director general of the Bangla Academy and the executive director of Kobi Nazrul Institute have been made respondents to the rule. They were asked to respond to the rule within the next four weeks.
Md Asad Uddin, a lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court, filed the writ petition on behalf of ten lawyers of the Supreme Court on June 22. The writ petition was filed seeking the High Court’s directive to authorities concerned for publishing a gazette declaring Kazi Nazrul Islam as the ‘national poet of Bangladesh’ officially.
Advocate Asad Uddin argued for the writ petition, while Deputy Attorney Generals Samarendra Nath Biswas and Abul Kalam Azad Daud represented the state.
Earlier on May 31, lawyer Asad Uddin on behalf of the ten lawyers sent a legal notice to the government bodies concerned asking them to publish gazette notification to formally declare Kazi Nazrul Islam as the national poet of Bangladesh. The writ petition was filed as no step was taken following the notice, said Asad Uddin.
The other notice- sender lawyers are Muhammad Misbah Uddin, Md Zobaidur Rahman, Al Reza Mohammad Amir, Md Rezaul Islam, KM Mamun-Or-Rashid, Md Asraful Islam, Shahinur Rahman Shahin, Md Rezaul Karim and Md Alauddin.
“Although people have been calling Kazi Nazrul Islam as the national poet of Bangladesh, the state has yet to recognise him as the national poet of the country through publication of gazette notification to this effect,” the legal notice said.
The legal notice was served on the secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the director general of Bangla Academy and the executive director of Kobi Nazrul Institute. They were requested to take initiative for publication of gazette in this regard within seven days.
It was claimed in the legal notice that the members of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s family and Kobi Nazrul Institute had long been demanding state recognition of Nazrul by publishing a gazette notification to officially declare the great poet of the Bengali literature as the national poet of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Post on May 25 in 2021 on the 122nd birth anniversary of Kazi Nazrul Islam published a news item on the issue under the headline ‘No gazette yet on making Nazrul the national poet’.
The exclusive news item narrates about the verbal recognition of Nazrul as the ‘National Poet’ of Bangladesh. At that time, Nazrul researcher and executive director of Kobi Nazrul Institute Mohammad Zakir Hossain told Bangladesh Post that the poet should be recognised as ‘National Poet’ officially as well as through a separate government notification or passage of the law in Parliament.
Kobi Nazrul Institute had written to the ministry in this regard. “We wrote to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. We hope, the ministry will take initiative in this regard,” Zakir Hossain had said.
However, no step was taken from the ministry in response to the letter of the Kobi Nazrul Institute.
Everyone knows Kazi Nazrul Islam as the ‘National Poet’ of Bangladesh, but this recognition is only verbal as he has not yet been officially recognised as the national poet.
According to Banglapedia, Kazi Nazrul Islam was accorded a reception at Albert Hall in Kolkata on December 10 in 1929. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray had presided over the function, while the felicitation was read by S Wazed Ali. Subhas Chandra also spoke at the function.
Late Syed Abul Maksud, a researcher on Nazrul, in an interview with a national daily once had said that the reception was held on December 15 in 1929 where Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Haque was also present and Kazi Nazrul Islam was declared National Poet at that function. After the announcement of that day, Nazrul became the national poet.
It was reported that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs had thought about the matter, but has not taken any effective step. No effective step from any other related organisations and institutions have been taken yet even though it has been 50 years since Kazi Nazrul Islam was brought to independent Bangladesh permanently.
Nazrul along with his family was brought to Dhaka on May 24 in 1972, the birthday of the poet, following the initiative of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The great poet of Bengali literature was born on the 11th Jaistha of the Bangla calendar year 1306 (May 24 in 1899) at Churulia village in Asansol under Burdwan district of West Bengal. After the poet was brought to Bangladesh, he was given a house in Dhanmondi in Dhaka city. It is called ‘Kabi Bhaban’.
In recognition of Nazrul’s contribution to Bangla literature, Dhaka University awarded him the honorary doctoral degree ‘D’Litt’ at a special convocation on December 9 in 1974. In 1976, the government granted him citizenship of Bangladesh and on February 21 awarded him the ‘Ekushey Padak’. On August 29 in 1976, the ‘National Poet’ died and he was buried with full state honour beside the Dhaka University Central Mosque.
Although Kazi Nazrul Islam commanded a lot of respect from the state and people of Bangladesh in the last years of his life, he was not officially recognised as the national poet by the state in his lifetime. No initiative has also been taken even after so many years of his death.
However, Nazrul’s name has been mentioned as the national poet in two laws of Bangladesh and various national and state documents and events. He is written as ‘National Poet’ in the laws related to Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University set up at Trishal of Mymensigh and Kobi Nazrul Institute in Dhaka. However, all are indirect recognition. Such acknowledgment may be faded in future.
