Salanga massacre

The Salanga massacre is commemorated annually [1] in Bangladesh in memory of an event in which several hundred protesters were killed, on 27 January 1922, when fired on by British Indian police.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)" [2] which stated that thousands of people died and that the bodies were thrown into the Bangali river or buried in a mass grave.

The massacre took place on January 27, 1922 at the Salanga bazaar in Raiganj Upazila in what was then the Bengal province of British India. The area is now within the Sirajganj District of Bangladesh. The British police fired indiscriminately on the protesting crowd in Salanga area under the leadership of youth leader and Bengali independence activist Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish. Abdur Rashid mentioned that the tide of violent movement broke out across the country. Volunteers are campaigning in groups to boycott foreign clothes and other goods in every city, village, market. British government tightened its repression policy.

Prior to the incident In January 1922 at Chandaikona which is around 20 kilometers away from the place of incident on the border of Bogra and Pabna,the policemen prevented volunteers from boycotting goods at the weekly market.[3] The people got furious and snatched the rifle from the hands of the policemen and threw it in the Fuljor river near the market. In this incident the police became vindictive towards the Congress workers and public in the area.

Following an intelligence report that revolutionists, led by Tarkabagish, were regrouping. the then superintendent of police (SP) in Pabna, led by the district administration, went to Salanga market and arrested Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish from the Congress office and took him to the southern end of the market which triggered a storm of protest. Agitated crowd comes forward from all directions with locally-made arms. Suddenly, a cattle trader hit the police officer, triggering police retaliation. The police personnel opened fire on the armed mob in the busy market, killing hundreds of them.[4] The official investigation report stated that the number of casualties was around 4,500.

According to the Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish Memorial Library, the number of deaths ranged from 1,500 to 4,500 people.[5] A mass graveyard remains near Salanga Bazar at Rahmatganj [5] and 27 January is annually observed in the Sirajganj District as Salanga Day,[1] the centennial of which was on 27 January 2022.