A group of foreign students at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, led by Bangladeshi students, observed the International Mother Language Day on the campus on Friday, says a press release. Students from countries including Bangladesh, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, and India paid homage to the martyrs of the 1952 Language Movement by placing wreaths at a makeshift Shaheed Minar on the campus in the morning. They sang ‘Amar Bhaiyer Rokte Rangano Ekushey February” and “Ami Banglay Gaan Gai’ together.
A minute’s silence was observed in memory of the gallant souls who laid down their lives to secure the Bengalis right to speak in their mother tongue. Abhradyuti Das, a resident of Kolkata and post-graduate student of Film Studies, said the International Mother Language Day is observed in few other places in the West Bengal capital.
“But today’s event is significant as students from Bangladesh, where the Language Movement took place, built the Shaheed Minar,” he said. Tarik Reaz, a Bangladeshi undergraduate student of International Relations department and an organiser of the event, said they were happy at the success of the event.
“We’re glad that students here can realise how important our mother language is and how the Bangladeshi people fought for their right to speak in Bangla,” he said. Around 40 Bangladeshi students are currently studying at Jadavpur University.