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Bhasha Sohid Diwas : A Protest and Sacrifice for the love of Mother Tongue.

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 population were Bengali-speaking. In the Barak Valley, the Bengali speaking population constitute majority. The main incident, in which 11 people were killed by State police, took place on 19 May 1961 at Silchar railway station. In April, 1960, a proposal was raised at the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, to declare Assamese as the one and only official language of the state. Tensions ran high in the Brahmaputra Valley, where mob violence broke out. The violence reached its peak between July and September, during which an estimated 50,000 Bengali Hindus fled the Brahmaputra Valley and arrived in West Bengal. Another 90,000 fled to Barak Valley and other regions of the North East. On 10 October 1960, Bimala Prasad Chaliha, the then Chief Minister of Assam presented a bill