User:BengaliHindu/Chandicharan Sutradhar

Chandicharan Sutradhar (1926 - 19 May 1961) (চন্ডীচরণ সূত্রধর) was an Indian carpenter who took part in the Bengali Language Movement in the Barak Valley in 1961. On 19 May 1961, while participating in a satyagraha demanding the official status for Bengali language in Barak Valley, he was shot dead by the paramilitary forces.

Early life
Sutradhar was born in Jafarpur village of Habiganj sub-division of the undivided Sylhet district in Assam in the summer of 1926. The village of Jafarpur fell under the Unchail Pargana. Presently, the village falls under Habiganj District of Sylhet Division in Bangladesh. Sutradhar was the only son of Chintaharan Sutradhar, a carpenter by profession. In spite of the poverty, his father wanted to give him a proper education. However, at the age of thirteen, Sutradhar lost his father. After losing his father, Sutradhar had to struggle for a livelihood. He had to take up the trade of his father to support his mother and sister. He completed his middle school and quit studies. Soon after, his mother too passed away.

Career
After losing his mother, he brought up his sister. In 1947, India was partitioned and Sylhet was awarded to Pakistan through a disputed referendum. Most of his relatives left for what was to become independent India. Though he appeared to lose his livelihood due to mass migration of Hindus to India, he resolved to struggle in his place of birth, even though it had become a part of Pakistan. He and his sister survived the killings of 1950. After that, his had some success in his profession and their economic condition improved. He got his sister married.

After the marriage of his sister Sutradhar was left alone. His relatives and friends had already migrated to India. He too wound up his business and migrated to India. After arriving in Silchar, we went to Rangirkhari to meet Chandramohan Sutradhar an elderly person of the carpenter community. In Silchar, he set up his business and soon established a goodwill as a carpenter.

Martyrdom
One day Tarani Debnath, the secretary of Rangirkhari Bayanshilpi Samiti came to his workshop along with student leaders Gangesh Pal and Bijan Purakayastha. They discussed how Assamese language was being imposed on the Bengali-speaking population in Assam, how the future generations would be deprived of learning Bengali, if Assamese were to be declared as the sole official language of the state. In the meanwhile, two other fellow tradesmen, Birendra Sutradhar and Krishna Kanta Biswas too arrived at his workshop. Inspired by the talks of Tarani Debnath and the student leaders, the three of them resolved to join the Bengali language movement. Debnath invited them to the satyagraha to be held on 19 May 1961 and requested them to collect the satyagrahi card and badge from the Sangram Parishad office.

On the morning of 19 May 1961, Sutradhar joined the satyagraha along with hundreds of other volunteers at the Tarapur railway station. While stopping the first train from running, he got injured as the police resorted to mild lathi charge. When the satyagrahis stopped the second train from running, the police resorted to lathi charge and the paramilitary forces threw tear gas. Sutradhar's face was blistered from tear gas. At around 2-35 pm, the paramilitary personnel posted at the site began to fire at the satyagrahis, killing Sutradhar at the spot.