Unishe May : Bronze bust of martyr Kamala Bhattacharya installed

Special Correspondent

SILCHAR, May 17: The bronze bust of martyr Kamala Bhattacharya, then a young  girl of this town, who laid down her life along with 10 others, all males,
during the language movement of 1961, was unveiled today by Gopa Dutta Aich.  Gopa Dutta also played crucial role during the time. The bust was unveiled
before an impressive gathering of the citizens of this town, some of whom were  witness to the unprovoked police firing which claimed the lives of 11 brave souls, under the aegis of Bhasha Sahid Kamala Bhattacharya Murti Sthapan Committee, a conglomerate of different literary and cultural organizations which included Shyama Prasad Road  Mahila Samiti, Nandini Sahitya and Partha Chakra, Maitrayee Sangha and  Dwijendra-Dolly Trust.

Paritosh Paul Choudhury, who led the historic mass movement of the time  against the conspiracy to deny Bengalis their fundamental and constitutional  right to receive education in their mother tongue and also to use it as official  language, recalled the different stages of the agitation which ultimately foiled the evil design and Bengali came to be accepted not only as the medium of instruction but also the official language for all correspondences and communication.

Gopa Dutta Aich became emotional to recall the events of 50 years ago when she along with other participants in the movement were so happy and emboldened
that they were determined to face all challenges and overcome them in order to safeguard their mother tongue Bengali and they did succeed. The bronze bust was
installed at Shyama Prasad Road on the premises of Chote Lal Seth Institute where Kamala Bhattacharya had her schooling. Bithika Acharya, leading advocate and president of Bhasha Sahid Kamala Bhattacharya Murti Sthapan Committee, took the initiative for the memorial bust of Kamala which was made by the Fine Arts Department of Assam University

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