The Salanga massacre is commemorated annually "Salanga Day today"
''The Daily Star'' (Dhaka, Bangladesh), 27 January 2009 in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in memory of an event in which several hundred protesters were killed, on 27 January 1922, when fired on by British Indian police.

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 ...

independence activist

Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish Khandakar Abdur Rashid ( bn, খন্দকার আব্দুর রশীদ), better known as Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish ( bn, আব্দুর রশীদ তর্কবাগীশ; 27 November 1900 – 20 August 1986) was a Bangladesh ...

, then 21, was leading a non-violent protest at the Salanga bazaar in

Raiganj Upazila Raiganj ( bn, রায়গঞ্জ) is an upazila of Sirajganj District in the Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. Geography About 65% of the total land of the upazila belongs to flood-prone areas and the remaining 35% belongs to the Varendra re ...

in what was then the Bengal province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The area is now within the

Sirajganj District Sirajganj District ( bn, সিরাজগঞ্জ জেলা) is a district in the North Bengal region of Bangladesh, located in the Rajshahi Division. It is an economically important district of Bangladesh. Sirajganj district is the 25th ...

of Bangladesh. Interest in the event, not well documented, was revived with the rediscovery in the late 20th century of "a rarely found account of Abdur Rashid titled 'Shadhinota Shangramer Rakta Shiri Salanga (Salanga: The Blood Stained-Step to the Struggle for Independence)" "The Salanga Massacre of 1922: Bangladesh's forgotten bloodbath"
by Shahnawaz Khan Chandan, ''The Daily Star'' (Dhaka, Bangladesh), 25 January 2019 which stated that thousands of people died and that the bodies were thrown into the Bangali river or buried in a mass grave. According to one researcher, relying on local literature at the Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish Memorial Library in the area, the number of deaths ranged from 1,500 to 4,500 people. "An almost forgotten part of our glorious past"
by Pradip Kumar Dutta, ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

'' (Delhi) A mass graveyard remains near Salanga Bazar at Rahmatganj and 27 January is annually observed in the Sirajganj District as ''Salanga Day'', the centennial of which was on 27 January 2022.

References

{{reflist Massacres in 1922 Massacres in British India Bengal Presidency Sirajganj District 1922 in British India Massacres committed by the United Kingdom Protests in British India