Desk Report,
Bengali-dominated Bara angered by Assam CM’s remarks
A comment by BJP Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of the northeastern Indian state of Assam has sparked outrage across the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley.
Bengali-dominated Bara angered by Assam CM’s remarks
The four districts of the Barak Valley, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Cachar and Hojai, are Bengali-dominated. In addition, the neighboring Dhubri and Goalpara are also Bengali-dominated. The residents of these districts have been using Bengali as their mother tongue for a long time. The Assam government had ordered the use of Bengali as a second language in official work in the districts of the Barak Valley.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference on Thursday that if any resident of the state of Assam mentions Bengali as their mother tongue in the upcoming census of India, they will be identified as ‘foreigners’. He also said, and from that, how many foreigners are there in the state?
After this announcement by the Chief Minister of Assam, the people of Dhubri, Goalpara and Hojai districts, including the entire Barak Valley, have erupted in anger. Local Bengalis protested in Goalpara and Dhubri on Saturday. They announced that they will identify themselves as Bengalis in the upcoming census. Their mother tongue will be Bengali. They will never include themselves as Assamese in the census. If they have to give their lives for this, they will not hesitate to give their lives.
Sadhan Purkayastha, State Secretary of Assam’s ‘Amra Bengali’ organization, told Prothom Alo on telephone this Saturday morning, “Who is the government to determine the mother tongue? The Chief Minister of the state cannot say this. Mother tongue is his birthright and right. No one can take away this right. We Bengalis will never accept ourselves as Assamese as our mother tongue. Our mother tongue is Bengali. 80 percent of the people of Barak speak Bengali. There are a large number of Muslims here. A movement for the establishment of the Bengali language was held in the Barak Valley on May 19, 1961, in the style of the 1952 Language Movement in Bangladesh, demanding the use of the Bengali language. During that movement, 11 protesters were killed in police firing at Silchar station that day. As a result of that movement, Bengali was recognized as the state language for official work in the Barak Valley districts of Assam.
