No politics on Bengali Language Martyrs will be tolerated, let this voice raise from this year’s 19th May procession : BDF

After three days, self-sacrifice of Bangla Bhasa Shahids or Bengali Language Martyrs will be celebrated on May 19. The Barak Democratic Front called on all the organisations that are taking out processions on this occasion to raise a strong voice by appealing to the government to stop politics on Language Martyrs.

In a press release, BDF Chief Convenor Pradip Dutta Roy said that after 1961, 62 years have passed but Barak’s language martyrs have not yet received official recognition from the government. The Mehrotra Commission report has not been published till date. Despite the green signal from the Union government and the Ministry of Railways, the state government has withheld naming Silchar Railway Station as Bhasha Shahid Station. Bengali is still not recognised as an associate official language of Assam even though the number of Bengali speakers is one third in the state. On the other hand, Bodo language is the co-official language of the state though they are just five percent of the population of Assam. Although Bodo language is used alongwith Assamese in the Legislative Assembly or on the nameplates of legislators’ residences in Dispur, there is no existence of Bengali anywhere. 880 martyrs of the Assam movement have been recognised and given government grants to their families but the martyrs of 19th May, 1961 are treated as outcasts. What can it be termed other than politics?

Dutta Roy also said that every year on the occasion of 19th May, processions are held, tribute is offered, lamps and candles are lit in the evening in memory of the language martyrs but after that everything is forgotten. He said this time a new organisation is taking out a procession which is a matter of joy. But if those who are participating in these processions do not raise a strong voice against the discriminations meted by the government, it will be mere hypocrisy. He urged that all those who will participate in various events in memory of the language martyrs should simultaneously join the demand for government recognition of the language martyrs and be vocal about the immediate publication of the Mehrotra Commission’s report. They should also raise their voice in favour of naming Silchar Railway Station as Bhasha Shahid Station and recognising Bengali as an official language of Assam. That will be the true tribute to the language martyrs.

The BDF Chief Convener also said that out of Barak’s 14 MLAs and 2 MPs, except Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha none was seen raising a voice on these issues. Besides, Barak BJP, RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal are also silent on this. If all of these organisations come together and get vocal, then we will definitely be able to meet the demands. He therefore requested all of them to come forward.

Apart from this, Dutta Roy also thanked the organisers of Matribhasa Surokkha Samiti for planning to organise Bhasa Shahid Dibas in Brahmaputra Valley.

Conveners Hrishikesh Dey and Joydeep Bhattacharjee informed this news in a press release on behalf of BDF Media Cell.