Beauty Sarkar, from Singair, Manikganj.
February is a very precious month for the people who speak Bengali language. On this day, Salam, Barkat, Rafique and Jobbar sacrificed their lives to protect the native language of Bengali people. However, in order to pay homage to the language martyrs on the great Martyrs’ Day and International Mother Language Day, a drawing competition was held at Baira union of Manikgonj on 21st of February. With facilitation support from BARCIK the ‘Baira Ekta Krishak-Krishani Sangathan’ (Farmers’ organization) arranged the event where children and adolescent boys and girls participated along with female women and male farmers of the area.
Besides, the members Shahid Rafiq youth volunteer organization also participated to express solidarity and pay tribute to the language martyrs.
At the beginning of the program, everyone paid tribute to the language martyrs at the Shaheed Minar made of banana tree with Shimul flowers. Later, the song which has been the very ‘base’ on any language event and recited as ‘Amar Vaiyer Rokte rangano ekushe February ami ki vulte pari (translated as: ‘How shall I forget the Ekushe February which was painted with the blood of my brothers) was performed on that day. Besides, a drawing competition was organized with children and teenagers to highlight the importance of Martyr’s Day and mother tongue to the new generation. While saying to encourage and motivate the children to practice their native language as well as the implication of the internal mother language day, Rokeya Begum, president of Baira Ekta Krishak Sangathan, said, ‘It gives me peace in mind to have the opportunity to remember and pay tribute to the language martyrs. ‘We are not the only nation who have to sacrifice our lives for the Bengali language. The language martyrs should be remembered throughout the year. Our language is our right.’-she added.
It is to be noted that most of the people of Baira village are engaged in agriculture. Therefore, sometimes it is not possible for them to pay homage to the martyrs of their language by visiting the Shaheed Minar on 21st February, despite their wishes. However, 6 years ago, with the facilitation support from BARCIK, Baira Ekta Krishak Sangathan organized a Shaheed Minar with banana trees in Baira village for the first time to pay homage to the language martyrs. After that, every year Baira Ekta Krishak Sangathan took the initiative to build Shaheed Minar in the village with banana trees0 and pay tribute to the language martyrs.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin