The members also paid tributes to three students of Dhaka University - Jabbar, Hyder and Rafiq -- who had laid down their lives in police firing on this day in 1952 while protesting against the Pakistan government and demanding Bangla be accorded the official language status.
The day is observed as the International Mother Language Day to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999.
Maintaining that the "rich and sweet" language was spoken by 25 crore people in all states in India and 17 other nations, he said the government has assured the House "five times over the past several years" on the issue but has taken no action.
Members, cutting across party lines, supported him as he urged the government to make a statement. As no such statement came, he said the next government should take up the matter in the very first session itself.
The other languages granted such status were Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu, he said.
Mahtab also reminded that February 21 was the day when three Dhaka University students had laid down their lives for the sake of their language.
He was joined by CPI(M) member Ramchandra Dome in paying tributes to the martyrs of the 1952 'Bhasha Andolan' in Dhaka. He was joined by CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta and Trinamool Congress member Sougata Roy.