It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence on apabhramshas (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language Pali–Prakrit)[11] in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.

[16] In November 1947, a key resolution at a national education summit in Karachi advocated Urdu and English as the sole state languages.

Students from Dhaka rallied under the leadership of Abul Kashem, the secretary of Tamaddun Majlish, a Bengali Islamic cultural organisation.

The central education minister Fazlur Rahman made extensive preparations to make Urdu the only state language of the Dominion of Pakistan.

[15] Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan and the Muslim League denounced the proposal as an attempt to divide the Pakistani people, thus the legislation was defeated.

At the Nikhil Pakistan Teachers' Conference held in Karachi on 29 December 1948, Fazlur Rahman proposed to write Bengali in Arabic script for the sake of Islamization of the language.

Both Karim Fazli and Fazlur Rahman established a society called 'Hurful Qur'an Samity' with a Maulana named Zulfikar Ali of Chittagong and tried to form a movement to introduce Arabic letters in Bengal through him.

Abdul Hakim, the former director of the East-Bengal Education Department said; "Some funny legends are heard in Dhaka about a Bengali Wazir Sahib's own knowledge of Urdu.

[3][25] After 1947, many other East Pakistani academics, including Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda and Nazirul Islam Mohammad Sufian, supported the idea of writing Bengali in Roman script.

[25] Students of the University of Dhaka and other colleges of the city organised a general strike on 11 March 1948 to protest the omission of Bengali language from official use, including coins, stamps and recruitment tests for the navy.

Political leaders such as Shamsul Huq, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Shawkat Ali, M Sirajul Islam, Kazi Golam Mahboob, Oli Ahad, Abdul Wahed and others were arrested during the rallies.

Under such circumstances, the chief minister Nazimuddin signed an accord with the student leaders agreeing to some terms and conditions, without complying to the demand that Bengali be made a state language.

[15] On 6 April 1948, in East Bengal Assembly resolution was passed making Bengali an official language of the province by Nazimuddin led Muslim League government.

In that meeting, the demand for Bengali language in the certificate issued by the Dhaka University Central Student Union was again raised, but he refrained from making any comments.

[37] On February 10, 1951, the Secretary of the Pakistan Buddhist League, Rabindranath Burmi, issued a statement opposing these proposals in favour of Urdu instead of Arabic as state language.

[full citation needed][39] The Urdu-Bengali controversy was reignited when Liaqat Ali Khan's successor, Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin, staunchly defended the "Urdu-only" policy in a speech on 27 January 1952.

[26] On 31 January, the Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod (All-Party Central Language Action Committee) was formed in a meeting at the Bar Library Hall of the University of Dhaka, chaired by Maulana Bhashani.

[15][40] The central government's proposal of writing the Bengali language in Arabic script by East Pakistan's education secretary Fazlur Rahman was vehemently opposed at the meeting.

"[16] The Shorbodolio Kendrio Rashtrobhasha Kormi Porishod, with support from the Awami Muslim League, decided to commemorate 21 February as Shohid Dibosh.

More than 100,000 people assembled at a public meeting held in Dhaka, where community leaders called for the immediate release of Maulana Bhashani and other political prisoners.

[15] However, Pakistani politicians such as Fazlur Rahman aggravated sectional tensions by declaring that anyone who wanted Bengali to become an official language would be considered an "enemy of the state".

The ruling Muslim League denounced the opposition United Front coalition, which—led by A. K. Fazlul Huq and the Awami League—wanted greater provincial autonomy.

[60] A meeting of parliament's Muslim League members, chaired by prime minister Muhammad Ali Bogra, resolved to give official recognition to Bengali.

[61] Consequently, the implementation failed and the United Front won a vast majority of seats in the legislative assembly, while the representation of the Muslim League was reduced to a historic low.

[33][61] The United Front ministry ordered the creation of the Bangla Academy to promote, develop, and preserve Bengali language, literature, and heritage.

[63][64] With the defeat of the Muslim League in the East Bengal assembly elections, the central government became flexible in recognising Bengali as the state language of Pakistan along with Urdu.

Due to regional economic, social, and political imbalances, sectional divisions grew,[69] and the Bengali ethnic nationalist Awami League invoked the 6-point movement for greater provincial autonomy.

[71] Since the events of February 1952, poems, songs, novels, plays, films, cartoons, and paintings were created to capture the movement from the varied point of views.

Work on a larger monument designed by the architect Hamidur Rahman began in 1957 with the support of the United Front ministry, and was approved by a planning committee chaired by University of Dhaka Vice-Chancellor Mahmud Husain and College of Fine Arts principal Zainul Abedin.

Although the imposition of martial law in 1958 interrupted the work, the monument was completed and inaugurated on 21 February 1963 by Abul Barkat's mother, Hasina Begum.