AGARTALA, May 19 (TIWN): Bangladesh-bharat-Pakistan people’s forum of Tripura state unit on 19 May 2016 observed Bhasha Shahid Diwas or Language Martyrs Day at Agartala. The day was observed by the people of the area irrespective of their linguistic identity.

Bhasha Shahid Diwas or Language Martyrs Day is observed in the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley area of Assam in remembrance of the incident that happened on 19 May 1961. In the incident, eleven youth including one woman laid their lives down in police firing at the Silchar railways station. They laid their life while protesting against imposition of Assamese language on the Bengali-speaking populace of this valley.

The Bengali Language Movement in Barak Valley, Assam was a protest against the decision of the Government of Assam to make Assamese the only official language of the state even though a significant proportion of the population were Bengali speaking. In the Barak Valley, the Bengali speaking population constituted a majority. The main incident, in which 11 people were killed by State police, took place on 19 May 1961.

Eleven persons were martyred in 1961. Nine persons died on 19 May 1961, two died later.

Kanailal Niyogi, Chandicharan Sutradhar, Hitesh Biswas, Satyendra Deb, Kumud Ranjan Das, Sunil Sarkar, Tarani Debnath, Sachindra Chandra Pal, Birendra Sutradhar, Sukamal Purakayastha, Kamala Bhattacharya.

Reportedly, One person Bijan Chakraborty was martyred on 17 August 1972.

Three more persons were martyred on 1985 & 1986 identified as Jaganmay Deb, Dibyendu Das and Krishna Kanta Biswas

A martyr's tomb, known as the Shahid Minar was erected in Silchar in the memory of the martyrs. This tomb stone shelter the ashes of the braves who chose death for their right to get formal education in their mother tongue in their free country. In 2011, Gopa Dutta Aich unveiled a bronze bust of Kamala Bhattacharya in the premises of the Chhotelal Seth Institute under the initiative of Shahid Kamala Bhattacharya Murti Sthapan Committee.