Kanailal Niyogi (1924 - 19 May 1961) was an employee of the Indian Railways who took part in the
Bengali Language Movement in the Barak Valley in 1961. On 19 May 1961, Niyogi became a martyr when he was shot dead by the paramilitary forces at the Tarapur railway station in
Silchar.
Early life
Kanailal was born in a
Bengali Hindu family in Khilda village of the erstwhile Mymensingh district to Dwijendralal and Monorama Niyogi in 1924. After his studies, he got a job in the
Bengal Assam Railway
The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British India. Headquartered in Chittagong, it functioned from 1892 to 1942.
History
Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in 1892 to serve British-owned tea plantat ...
. He was posted in Silchar, where he settled with his family. After the Partition of India, Niyogi moved to Silchar permanently.
[ archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=186462 Tributes to language heroes of Assam/ref>
]
Martyrdom
As the Bengali Language Movement gained momentum in the Barak Valley, Niyogi was drawn into it. In spite of being a railway official, he took part in the Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
on 19 May 1961.[ archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=186462 Tributes to language heroes of Assam/ref> The primary agenda of the satyagrahis was a rail blockade at Tarapur railway station demanding the official status of ]Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
in Assam. The rail blockade program passed off peacefully in the morning. However, in the afternoon, at around 2-35 pm the paramilitary personnel posted at the station started firing at the satyagrahis without any provocation.
[ archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=186462 Tributes to language heroes of Assam/ref> Niyogi suffered bullet wounds and along with others he was taken to Silchar Civil Hospital where he was declared dead. He left behind his wife, two sons and two daughters and his 70-year-old mother.
][ archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=186462 Tributes to language heroes of Assam/ref>
]
See also
* Kamala Bhattacharya
Kamala Bhattacharya was an Indian student who was martyred in the Bengali Language Movement in Silchar in 1961.
Early life
Kamala was born to Ramraman Bhattacharya and Suprabasini Devi, the fifth of seven children in the year 1945 in the erstw ...
* Sachindra Chandra Pal
Sachindra Chandra Pal (1942 - 19 May 1961) was an Indian student who took part in the Bengali Language Movement in Silchar and was martyred on 19 May 1961. Sachindra Paul Road in Silchar is named in his memory.
Early life
Sachindra Chandra bo ...
* Birendra Sutradhar
The Bengali Language Movement of Barak Valley was a protest against the decision of the Government of Assam to make Assamese language, Assamese the only sole official language of the state, even though knowing that a major proportion of the Barak V ...
* Tarani Debnath
References
{{Authority control
1924 births
1961 deaths
People from Mymensingh District
People from Cachar district
Martyrs
Bengali people
Bengali Language Movement of Assam activists