A series of celebrations to mark the Language Revolution Day (Bhasha Andolan Dibas), which began at the cradle of the movement in Dhaka, culminated at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, on Tuesday.
On February 21, 1952, students and activists in Dhaka (then part of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) protested against the Pakistani government’s decision to impose Urdu as the only official language of the country.
During the protest, police opened fire on the demonstrators, killing several of them.
The day is now celebrated as International Mother Language Day. A symbolic torch was lit in Dhaka on February 17. On Ekushe February (February 21), that torch was part of a colourful procession taken out in Kolkata by the past and present students and staff of St Xavier’s College.
At an event titled Dashabhuja Bangali in the evening,10 Bengali personalities who have made their marks in different fields were felicitated in the college. Veteran actress Madhabi Mukherjee was conferred with “Dashobhuja Chirontoni” — an award for her extraordinary service to the film industry.
Singer Rupam Islam, theatre artist Goutam Halder, footballer Bidesh Bose, cricketerWriddhiman Saha, restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee, authorSmaranjit Chakraborty, former top cop Soumen Mitra, actor Kharaj Mukherjee andMA Alamgir, veteran actor from Bangladesh, were the recipients.