Editorial
Dhaka University's turning 90
Our resolve on the occasion would be to restore its past glory
Eighty-nine years ago on July 01, 1921 the Dhaka University was founded fulfilling the long cherished dream of the then population of East Bengal. The idea of establishing a university for the relatively unserved section of the Bengalees living in the eastern part of greater Bengal came to the mind of the imperial rulers after a deputation of high ranking Muslim leaders, including Sir Nawab Khwaja Salimullah, Khan Bahadur Chowdhury Kazimuddin Ahmed Siddiky, Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury and A. K. Fazlul Huq, met Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy of India, on January 31, 1912 and expressed their fears that the annulment (of Partition of Bengal) would retard the educational progress of their community. This highest seat of learning in this agricultural hinterland of greater Bengal, in course of time, truly became the centre of intellectual excellence as well as that of political thinking and movement.
One may recall here that during the early years of its creation, renowned academicians of distinction like the celebrated scholar Philip John Hartog of London University became its first vice chancellor. Of the academicians of international repute who walked the corridors of the university and taught its students include physicist Satyendranath Bose, historian Romesh Chandra Majumder, Dr. Mahmud Hasan, Professor Jenkins and so on. After the British rulers left partitioning India, the student community of this university added a new chapter to the rich history of the Bengalee people through their glorious struggles to restore the honour of their mother tongue as well as launching other democratic movements against dictatorial regimes. The language movement of 1952 and its great martyrs, the heroes of the democratic struggles of 1960s until its culmination in the mass upsurge of 1969, which also paved the way for overthrow of the then Pakistani military dictator General Ayub Khan and initiation of the nationalist struggles to wrest the total freedom of Bengalees from the theocratic trappings of Pakistan were the outcomes of those struggles. And the great War of Liberation of 1971 through which the Bengalees finally won their independence also owes to a large extent to the sacrifices made by the students and teachers of the Dhaka University.
Even as late as in the late 1980s and 90s, the Dhaka University students had re-enacted their glorious legacy by making great sacrifices during the anti-autocracy struggles against a military dictator.
To be exact, since its inception the Dhaka university students and teachers had for the most part played the role of a vanguard in every intellectual, cultural and political movement that had to do with shaping the course of Bengali people's march of progress.
However, looking back from the present context, the brilliant exploits of the earlier generation of teachers and students appear to be something of a nostalgic reminiscence that needs to be resurrected.
On this 90th anniversary of founding of Dhaka University, let our resolve be to restore the past glory of Dhaka University, which was once the Oxford of the East.
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