Assam: Silchar remembers language martyrs ‘Bhasha Sahid’

A correspondent

Silchar: Silchar, the city of martyrs, remembered its eleven ‘Bhasha Sahid’ on Sunday in a befitting manner. Despite the bad weather, a large number of people flocked to Silchar Smashanghat, or the cremation site, early in the day to pay floral tributes on the rostrum honouring the eleven language martyrs who gave their lives on May 19, 1961. Members of almost all the organisations of the town gathered either at the Smashanghat or at the railway station where the state police gunned down eleven agitators.

Later in the noon people assembled at Gandhibag and as the clock ticked 2.35 pm, the exact time the police started unprovoked spraying of bullets as the satyagrahis who assembled at the station to protect their mother language on that fateful day 63 years back. The folks of all ages were seen singing songs in the memory of the martyrs. Street plays were performed by various organisations. The entire cloudy Sunday  saw observance of language martyrs day either in a grand manner at Gandhibag or Railway station or almost in all the lanes where locals erected makeshift ‘Shahid bedis’ and organized symposium or cultural programmes.

Meanwhile ‘Bhasha Shahid Station Smarak Samiti awarded the maiden ‘Unisher Padak’ or the ‘Medal of May 19, 1961’ to Professor Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, the former Vice Chancellor of the Assam University. On Saturday evening, the Barak Upatyaka Sahitya O Samskriti Sammelon honoured five renowned persons who were actively participated in the language movement of 1961 and 1972. The recipients of the honours were Santosh Majumdar, Dilip Kanti Laskar, Chitra Dutta, Malati Nandi and Sudeshna Bhattacharjee who received the honour on behalf of her ailing husband Kamalendu Bhattacharjee. A good number of litterateurs and cultural activists from Bangladesh and Kolkata also attended the programmes.

Also Read: Language Martyrs’ Day observed at Silchar (sentinelassam.com)

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