Members of visiting Indian tourist group in front of Dhakeshwari Temple in the capital on Tuesday.Photo : Messenger
A total of 10 members from two organisations, named 100 Miles and Bhasa Sutra, came to Bangladesh by bicycle from West Bengal, India. They arrived in Dhaka on Monday and visited various sightseeing places in Dhaka city on Tuesday.
The tourist group will return to India after paying tribute to the language martyrs at the Central Shaheed Minar on February 21, the International Mother Language Day.
The team members are Swarjit Roy, Sukhendu Banerjee, Buddhadev Das, Ashish Dutta, Debabrata Mondal, Tarun Kayal, Sudeep Das, Anirban Saha, Sujoy Mondal, and Biswajit Barui. Some of them are businessmen, and some are employees.
This reporter spoke to the tourist group at Dhakeshwari Temple in the capital on Tuesday afternoon. Members of both organisations told The Daily Messenger that only Bengalis have given their lives to protect their language, setting a unique precedent in the world. The language is the contribution of the martyrs, so we rushed to Bangladesh to pay respect to them during the language month.
They said that in view of the International Mother Language Day and Martyrs’ Day, they started their journey from Calcutta Press Club in India on February 15. The team reached Faridpur on Sunday afternoon through the Benapole border. After visiting the sights of Faridpur, they crossed the Padma Bridge and reached Dhaka on Monday.
Each of the 10 members wore the same t-shirt, and everyone had a poster in front of their bicycle with the inscription, “Bangla is never divided; we are one in the Bengali language.” They claim that despite the two countries being separated by barbed wire, there is a spiritual similarity between the Bengali language speakers of the two countries that no barrier could break.
A barbed wire fence divided the territory of the two Bengals, but oral language and cultural ties could not divide the bond. They said that they came to Bangladesh from West Bengal in India by bicycle to highlight the friendship and cordiality between the two Bengali peoples.
Swarjit Roy, a member of this team, said, “We are happy to have the opportunity to sincerely mingle with the people of Bangladesh during the long-distance tour. All were received with hospitality on the way. It is because of the genuine love for the Bengali language and the bond between the people of the two Bengals that this cycling trip happened.”
Sukhendu Banerjee said, A barbed wire fence divided the territory of the two Bengals, but we are one because of language. We would like to visit this country again in the future.
Messenger/Disha
