Naogaon Correspondent: Habibur Rahman
First the Bengali language, then the red-green Bangladesh. February means the month of languages. When February comes, one remembers the soldiers who fought the language movement in 1952. One of the soldiers who broke Section 144 and took to the streets for the language was Dr. Manjur Hossain, a son of Sultanpur Pandit Para village in Naogaon. But even today his family is neglected. No one keeps track of this family. Manjur's grave is unprotected. Except for the posthumous Ekushey Padak in 2002, the family of this language soldier did not receive any state honors or privileges.
According to sources, Manjur Hossain, born on June 15, 1928, was a student of Dhaka Medical College during the Language Movement. He was an active activist in many movements before the Language Movement. He was one of the craftsmen who built the first Shaheed Minar after the Language Movement. He was the only person among the Language Soldiers who received the title of "Biplob Da". He has been in jail many times. He could not do anything for his family. After completing his medical studies, he came to his own area and provided free medical services to the poor till his death. Until his death, Dr. Manjur Hossain. This son of the nation passed away on December 4, 1968. Currently, his family consists of his centenarian wife, 4 sons and 2 daughters. Dr. Manjur Hossain's wife, who has reached the age of 100 years, is counting the days of death with the pain of not getting much. After his death, Dr. Manjur Hossain's grave was unguarded. Later, in 2011, his grave was paved by the Ekushey Parishad, a social and cultural organization in Naogaon, and a small martyr's minaret was recently built next to the grave by the family.
Every year on Language Day, the family, Ekushey Parishad and Sultanpur Club pay floral tributes, but the administration has not paid floral tributes to Manjur's grave. Manjur's grave remains unprotected. Unlike the freedom fighters, this family is not given any kind of social status by the government. To this day, his wife has not received any state benefits or allowances. Many who came to pay tribute to Dr. Manjur Hossain's grave said that the government's negligence towards language soldiers is really painful and distressing. Even after so many years of independence, no touch of modernity has touched the grave of this brave soldier.
Even today, the grave is lying in an unprotected state due to neglect and neglect. I wish the new government of the new Bangladesh to pay due state honors to all the language soldiers of the country. Dr. Manjur Hossain's son Hasan Imam Tamal said, "The language movement is the root of independent Bengal. And we have all forgotten that root."
If Bangladesh is liberated and the families of freedom fighters receive state honors and various kinds of benefits, then
Why are we the families of language soldiers so neglected? Like freedom fighters, we also want all kinds of opportunities including state honors. And if we want to maintain the contribution of language soldiers from generation to generation, there is no alternative to recognizing the families of language soldiers at the state level. Ekushey Parishad Naogaon President Adv. D.M. Abdul Bari said that this neglect and indifference of the government towards the families of language martyrs is very painful. If it were not for the language movement, we would not have had our mother tongue, and we would not have had International Mother Language Day today. However, once a year on Language Day, the grave of a language soldier is not even officially honored. The family of this language soldier is not searched for. Therefore, there is no alternative to modernizing the graves of those few soldiers who fought for the language and providing all kinds of appropriate state facilities to the families.
Sadar Upazila Executive Officer Md. Ibnul Abedin said that Naogaon's children are one of the pioneers of the language movement.
With the cooperation of the district administration in providing social status to the family of soldier Dr. Manjur Hossain
Immediate action will be taken. In addition, the government will provide comprehensive assistance to this family by investigating their case.
The official assured cooperation.
