Published: 10:12 AM, 27 February 2026
Bloodshed for Alphabet: From Dhaka to Soweto
Rakibul Islam
May 19, 1961. An unprecedented history of sacrifice was scripted in the Barak Valley of Assam, India, to protect the dignity of the mother tongue, Bengali. Today, this stands as a unique and immortal chapter in the history of world civilization. Exactly nine years after the bloody language movement in Dhaka in 1952, the streets of Assam were once again crimsoned with the blood of Bengalis. The crisis emerged when a unilateral and discriminatory official attempt was made to declare 'Assamese' as the sole official language of the province. In protest against the 'State Language Bill' introduced by the then Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha, the people of Karimganj, Silchar, and Hailakandi formed the 'Cachar Gana Sangram Parishad' and plunged into a massive mass movement. At the climax of the agitation on May 19, paramilitary forces and police fired 17 rounds indiscriminately at thousands of satyagrahis gathered at the Silchar railway station, silencing the surroundings in an instant.
In this barbaric massacre, Kanailal Niyogi, Chandicharan Sutradhar, Hitesh Biswas, Satyendra Kumar Deb, Kumud Ranjan Das, Sunil Sarkar, Tarani Debnath, Sachindra Chandra Pal, Birendra Sutradhar, Sukomal Purkayastha, and Kamala Bhattacharya were martyred. As a result of their heroic sacrifice, the Assam government was eventually forced to concede, granting Bengali official language status in the three districts of the Barak Valley. Most of these martyrs were ordinary people and refugees—victims of the partition of the country—who valued the honor of their mother tongue more than the pain of losing their land. Notably, sixteen-year-old Kamala Bhattacharya became the world's first female language martyr, sacrificing her life for her language shortly after appearing for her Matriculation examination. In memory of this great sacrifice, May 19 is observed every year as 'Bengali Language Martyrs' Day' with due dignity across various parts of India.
The backdrop of the movement in the Barak Valley was extremely complex. The conflict began in April 1960, when a proposal was made in the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee to make Assamese the only official language. By July and September, tensions reached a peak, and many Bengali families were forced to flee their homes. The report of the inquiry commission led by Justice Gopal Mehrotra revealed horrifying facts—thousands of huts and houses were destroyed, and many lives were lost. It was against this state-sponsored injustice that the common people united at Silchar station on May 19. While the protest was peaceful, a confrontation between a police truck and the agitators suddenly escalated the situation. Within minutes, eleven fearless young souls fell to the bullets of the paramilitary forces. Later, in 1985, another activist, Krishna Kanta Biswas, passed away after suffering physical agony for twenty-four years. This sacrifice did not go in vain; because of that struggle in 1961, the Bengalis of Assam today enjoy the right to speak and conduct official business in their own language.
This glorious struggle for linguistic rights has not been confined to the Bengali nation alone. Across the globe, people have shed their blood to protect the existence and dignity of their respective languages. The sacrifice of Rafiq, Shafiq, Jabbar, Barkat, and Salam on the streets of Dhaka on February 21, 1952, has become the foundation for the international recognition of Mother Language Day. Their heroic resistance against the conspiracy of the Pakistani ruling class to impose Urdu remains an eternal inspiration for oppressed and linguistic minorities worldwide. The Dhaka movement was essentially a struggle for a nation's identity, which later paved the way for the birth of an independent state. Similarly, in 1956, a long and disciplined movement for the Bengali language took place in the Manbhum region of India. When attempts were made to impose Hindi in Manbhum (then part of Bihar), thousands of people, led by Atul Chandra Ghosh and Labanyaprabha Ghosh, undertook a long march to strengthen the movement. The struggle spread among the masses through 'Tusu' songs. After a long fight, the Purulia district of West Bengal was formed by carving out parts of Manbhum, marking a major victory for the reorganization of territories based on language.
Beyond India, during the dark era of apartheid in South Africa, the struggle for language also claimed many young lives. On June 16, 1976, police opened fire on a massive protest by school students in Soweto, South Africa, leading to the martyrdom of many students, including Hector Pieterson. The movement began as a protest against the imposition of 'Afrikaans'—the 'language of the oppressor'—over the students' native languages. The photograph of Hector Pieterson's bloodied body being carried by a fellow student remains a living witness to linguistic devotion for the world today. The Soweto uprising reawakened the consciousness of freedom seekers in South Africa and drew international condemnation against apartheid.
Similarly, in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, many political activists and common people have faced imprisonment and sacrifice to protect the distinctiveness of the Balochi and Pashto languages. These highland people continue their struggle for cultural rights against the dominance of the Punjabi language. In neighboring Nepal, people have sacrificed their lives for the recognition of the Newari language, while in Sri Lanka, the struggle for the Tamil language has seen countless deaths. Following the passage of the 'Only Sinhala' Act in 1956, Tamils faced systemic marginalization, which eventually turned into an armed conflict. Over decades, thousands of Tamils gave their lives for their linguistic rights and self-determination.
Traces of linguistic struggle are also found in European history. People have fought for centuries to preserve the Breton language in France's Brittany or to establish linguistic rights in Spain's Catalonia and Basque Country. During Franco's dictatorship, many sacrificed themselves protesting the ban on the Catalan language. In North America, a peaceful yet persistent movement for the dignity of the French language is seen in the province of Quebec, Canada, which eventually secured official status for French. Indigenous communities in Latin America also continue to struggle daily to keep their ancient native languages alive.
Each of these struggles and every drop of blood shed reminds us that language is not merely a medium of communication; it is the soul, identity, and fundamental right of a nation. These stories of sacrifice establish the truth in our hearts that the voice of a community cannot be silenced forever by cannons or bullets. This history, soaked in the blood of martyrs, bestows upon us the responsibility to respect our own language and protect the linguistic diversity of the world. From Silchar to Soweto, from Dhaka to Manbhum—the language martyrs everywhere are bound by the same thread; they were all uncompromising warriors in defense of their mother tongue. Today, paying humble tribute to these heroes, we must vow that no more lives should be lost for the sake of language and that every language on Earth should survive with the respect it deserves. The survival of every language means the survival of a culture, and this diversity is the true beauty of the world. The sacrifice of the eleven heroes in the Barak Valley ignited a beacon of light that will forever keep the flame of linguistic love and rights burning in the hearts of oppressed people worldwide.
Rakibul Islam studies Chemistry
in Jagannath University.
