Bangladesh remembered the language movement of Bangladesh and Assam
and the heroes who sacrificed their lives in Assam, a state of India, on Saturday in Dhaka, reports UNB.
Language Movement Smriti Parishad organised a discussion marking the language day of the Assam and paid tribute to them at the Central Shaheed Minar of Bangladesh before the discussion.
Former Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddique said that the glorious history of the language movement of Bangladesh and Assam on 19 May should be known to all.
"Not only Bangalees (of Bangladesh) sacrificed their lives for the language, the Bangalee people of Assam also sacrificed for Bangla. But still we have not been able to introduce Bangla language in all spheres," he said.
He said this while attending a discussion meeting at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on the occasion of the Language Martyrs Day of Assam while the women's leader and noted writer Selina Khaleque chaired the discussion.
He added that "It is our responsibility to reach to the new generation with the actual history of the language movement as they can respect their language and heroes who sacrificed their lives."
Ekushey Padak winner Shamsul Huda, language movement hero Abdul Karim Pathan, and Rezaul Karim, wife of language movement hero Abdul Matin, President of Sammilita Sanskritik Jote, Golam Kuddus, former Director General of Press Institute of Bangladesh, Dr. Abdul Hai Siddiq, and President of Language Movement Smriti Parishad,Kazi Golam Mahbub, among others spoke in the memorial meeting.
The Bengali Language Movement in Barak Valley, Assam was a protest against the decision of Assam government to make Assamese the only official language of the state even though a significant proportion of population was Bangla-speaking in the Barak Valley.
Nine people were killed by State police in Assam on May 19, 1961. Two others, who sustained injuries in police attack that day, succumbed to their injuries later.
The nine martyrs were Kanailal Niyogi, Chandicharan Sutradhar, Hitesh Biswas, Satyendra Deb, Kumud Ranjan Das, Sunil Sarkar ,Tarani Debnath, Sachindra Chandra Pal, Birendra Sutradhar, Sukamal Purakayastha, and Kamala Bhattacharya.
On the other hand, Bijan Chakraborty was martyred on 17 August 1972 while three more persons Jaganmay Deb, Dibyendu Das, Krishna Kanta Biswas were martyred in 1985 and 1986.
A martyr's tomb, known as the Shaheed Minar was erected in Silchar in the memory of the martyrs in 2011 in the premises of the Chhotelal Seth Institute under the initiative of Shaheed Kamala Bhattacharya Murti Sthapan Committee.
The organisation has been observing this day since 2003 to recall the heroes of the Assam and spread their sacrifice to the world.
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