She came from Chattogram and organised girls in Dhaka for Bangla

Her ancestral identity got her involved in the run-up to the Language Movement in her school life, while her marriage with a litterateur subsequently turned her into a full-time campaigner for Bangla.

At the age of 17, the girl, Chemon Ara, dared to walk in a procession defying a police ban on 21 February 1952, and took to the street the next day again with the blood-stained shirt of Barkat – one of the Language Movement martyrs.

Hailing from Chattogram, she was one of few women who shrine through history for leading the brewing language struggle to its peak in 1952. Chemon Ara rose to the occasion in shepherding the student movement in Dhaka's Eden Mohila College.

After the inception of Pakistan in 1947, a young Dhaka University teacher Abul Kashem formed a cultural organisation Tamaddun Majlish, which later played a key role in the movement. Its office was at a residential building in Azimpur.

"Kashem bhai was from Chattogram and my father used to like him a lot. We were kind of family friends before the Partition of Bengal in 1947," Chemon Ara recalled in an interview.

She said Abul Kashem made Chemon Ara and her sister Momtaz members of Tamaddun Majlish with the consent of their father, while they were just sixth or seven graders. Momtaz, Chemon Ara and her friend Nilufar used to visit the Tamaddun Majlish office often as the girls used to help the seniors in making posters and banners to be used for the campaign for Bangla.

In 1949, she joined the meeting and rallies opposing a proposal to write Bangla in the Arabic alphabet. In 1950, she got married to prominent litterateur Shahed Ali and became a full-time activist with the inspiration of her husband.

She organised Eden College girls and joined their male counterparts shoulder to shoulder to defy section 144 on 21 February 1952. They walked in the historic 21 February procession that faced police firing on the agitating students. Chemon Ara and her comrades brought out another procession the next day with the blood-stained shirt of Barkat – one of the Language Movement martyrs who died in police firing the previous day.

With bells ringing louder seeking Bangla as a state language following the tragic event, Tamaddun Majlish decided to bring out a special publication. While the activists were busy in gathering write-ups, drafting them and accommodating in the paper, police raided the Azimpur office on 23 February night.

Chemon Ara and Abul Kashem's wife Rahela Khatun faced the law enforcers gallantly and kept them busy at the entrance letting the activists leave the house through the backdoor.

Chemon Ara was born on 1 July 1935 in the traditional Muslim family in Chattogram. His father ASM Mofakhkhar was a well-known lawyer of the Kolkata High Court before the partition. Her mother Durdana Khatun was a housewife.

She passed matriculation (now secondary school certificate or SSC) from Government Kamrunnesa Girls' School in Dhaka in 1951 and intermediate (now higher secondary certificate or HSC) from Eden College in 1953. She later passed BA Honours in 1956 and master's from Dhaka University in 1957.

She was a Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) member in 1957-58. After her academic life, she joined teaching and retired in 1990 after a 36-year career.

Chemon Ara's first article was published in the weekly Sainik in 1948. She published five books and has edited another five. Her poems and essays were published in various national dailies.

A TBS-Nagad initiative.