‘Free Palestine’ slogans in Assam’s remembrance rally erupts controversy.

People in the three districts of Barak Valley observe Bhasa Sahid Divas (language martyrs day) on May 19, remembering the sacrifice of eleven youths during the language movement in 1961 in Silchar. A controversy erupted in Assam’s Silchar on Friday evening after ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop Killing in Gaza’ slogans were raised during a rally conducted in remembrance of the 1961 language movement in the Barak Valley. People in the three districts of Barak Valley observe Bhasa Sahid Divas (language martyrs day) on May 19, remembering the sacrifice of eleven youths during the language movement in 1961 in Silchar. Friday’s rally was organised by Sammilita Sanskritik Mancha, an umbrella of 32 socio-cultural organisations. In the rally, people were seen displaying ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop Killing Children and Innocents in Gaza’ posters during the rally with the president of Sammilita Sanskritik Mancha, Biswajit Das, saying that the 1961 language movement was a fight against oppression by superior classes (state government) and what is happening in Gaza today has a similarity with that. “We are followers of Rabindranath Tagore. We believe we are global citizens, and we have to raise our voices against both local and global issues. We have sympathy for the Palestinians and also for those facing Russian attacks in Ukraine,” Das said. He said the slogans were raised by the Chorus organisation, which he founded, not by the others who attended the rally. “For us, the moment of remembering the language movement is an opportunity to speak against all the injustice, and we raised our voices against the killing of innocents and children in Gaza. The other organisations which took part in the rally may not agree with us and we didn’t force anyone to support us,” Das said. However, this was criticised by the masses on social media with netizens saying that politicising the language movement was “not appropriate”. Senior theatre activist and journalist Sayan Biswas wrote on Facebook, “I took part in the rally because of the respect I have for my mother language because we didn’t forget the sacrifice of the martyrs. But I don’t support irrelevant posters or slogans. My organisation Ajker Prajanma Theatre Group doesn’t support this act.”