West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pays tribute to 1952 Language Movement martyrs

KOLKATA: Paying her tribute to the martyrs of the 1952 Language Movement (Bhasha Shahids) on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said all languages are equal and mother tongue should be used to express one's views.

"All languages are equal. Mother tongue must be for expressing views," Banerjee tweeted this morning.

"How can I forget February 21 spattered with my brothers' blood. I pay my tribute to the martyrs of 1952 Language Movement," Banerjee tweeted.

Heartfelt greetings to all on the occasion of International Mother Language Day," Banerjee added.

February 21 corresponds to the day in 1952 when students from the University of Dhaka, Jagannath College and Dhaka Medical College, demonstrating for the recognition of Bengali as one of the two national languages of East Pakistan, were brutally shot dead by police, then under Pakistan government, near the Dhaka High Court in the capital of present-day Bangladesh.