| NEWS NOTES 'Ekushey February' Observed
Staff Reporter E kushey February' Martyrs' Day was observed on Sunday last throughout West Bengal and people paid homage to the 1952 Language movement martyrs with a resolute sense of gratitude to those who laid down their lives for the mother tongue, Bengali, 47 years ago.In Calcutta, seminars meetings, rallies and processions were organised by various mass organisations and cultural groups. Different units of the West Bengal Writers' and Artists' Association also actively participated in those programmes. The 3rd Calcutta Peoples Health Fair at College Square observed this day as 'Anit-Imperialist and Language Martyrs' Day. A seminar was also organised at the Fair ground on this occasion. Among the speakers were Mr. Anil Biswas, Secretary, CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee, Dr. Deb Kumar Basu and Prof. Goutam Chatterjee. Rallies and processions in the city today marched forward the streets singing in chorus 'Amar bhaiyer rokte rangano Ekushay February, Ami ki bhulie pari' (Can I forget February 21st which was drenched with the blood of my brother). Forty seven years ago it was a battle for the mother tongue. On February 21, 1952 six people were brutally killed at Dhaka after police opened indiscriminate fire on a procession, comprising mostly University students, protesting against the imposition of Urdu as a state language. Facing popular resistance Bengali was eventually made the other language of the country and the language struggle was seen as sowing the seeds of Freedom in the former East Pakistan, reborn as independent Bangladesh in 1971. |
