Dhaka: Popular Bangladeshi Band troupe Joler Gaan has performed in Silchar of Assam in India in remembrance of the martyrs in the Bengali Language Movement in Barak Valley, Assam.

The organisers Bhasa Shahid Station Shahid Smaran Samiti invited the troupe to perform on Saturday, reports news agency UNB.

This massacre is compared with the massacre in Jalianwalabag or the one in Bangladesh on 21 February 1952 when students demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bengali, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, were shot to death by police in Dhaka, capital of present day Bangladesh.

The Bengali Language Movement in Barak Valley, Assam was a protest against the decision of the Government of Assam to make Assamese the only official language of the state even though a significant proportion of the population was Bengali speaking.

The main incident, in which 11 people were killed by State police, took place on 19 May 1961. Nine persons died on 19 May 1961 while two died later.

The deceased include Kanailal Niyogi, Chandicharan Sutradhar, Hitesh Biswas, Satyendra Deb, Kumud Ranjan Das, Sunil Sarkar, Tarani Debnath, Sachindra Chandra Pal, Birendra Sutradhar, Sukamal Purakayastha and Kamala Bhattacharya.

One person -- Bijan Chakraborty -- was killed on 17 August 1972 while three more persons -- Jaganmay Deb, Dibyendu Das and Krishna Kanta Biswas -- were killed on 1985 and 1986.

A martyr’s tomb, known as the Shahid Minar was erected in Silchar in the memory of the martyrs. This tomb shelters the ashes of the brave individuals who chose death for their right to get formal education in their mother tongue in their free country.