Assam’s Barak Valley celebrates 62nd year of ‘Language Movement’; CM pays homage

Assam’s Barak Valley is celebrating the 62nd year of the 1961 Language Movement, where 11 youths gave their lives to protect the right to practice their mother tongue. The movement was against a circular of the then Assam government to make Assamese the “only official language of the state”.

Thousands in three districts of Barak Valley observed May 19 as “Mother Tongue Day” and paid homage to the ‘language martyrs’ at Silchar railway station, where 11 youths died in the police firing in 1961 and at Silchar Crematorium, where their dead bodies were cremated.

For the first time, these 11 youth were recognised as martyrs by the Assam government after chief minister Himanata Biswa Sarma on Friday in a tweet called them ‘Shahids’ recognising their sacrifice and paid homage.

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“Today is May 19. In 1961, these 11 youths during the ‘Mother Language Movement’ laid their lives to protect their right to practice their mother tongue, I consider them fighters. Their ultimate sacrifice for the right to practice their mother language gave Barak Valley its unique and separate identity in Assam. I pay homage to these martyrs today,” Sarma wrote on Twitter in Bengali.

Rupam Nandi Purkayastha, advisor, All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association (ACKHSA), said that the chief minister’s recognition of the martyrs is a welcome step but the government should provide the facilities to the families of these 11 martyrs just like the martyrs of Assam Movement and Bodoland Movement.

He said, “Former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced Rs. 5 lakh each and a government job to each of the martyrs of these two movements. Now when the chief minister is recognising these 11 youths as martyrs, he should announce similar facilities to the family members.”

According to senior journalist Chayan Bhattacharjee, the family members of these 11 martyrs were ignored by the people of Barak Valley and they led a miserable life. A group of social workers took the initiative to make houses for these families. On Wednesday, they gifted a house to the daughter of one of the martyrs, he said.

Dr Rajib Kar, who took the initiative to build the house in Silchar, said that they didn’t ask for any government help. Only the land was given by Silchar municipal board, said Kar.

People from various parts of Assam, West Bengal, Bangladesh, New Delhi, and Maharashtra have come to Silchar to witness the celebration.