Written with passionate involvement and a strong interest in the subject matter, this subjective look at the 'language movement' of Silchar, Assam, and the events of 19 May 1961 in particular, traces the occurrences in some detail, drawing on personal interactions and fieldwork to revisit an important cultural and political development of its time. The Bengali Language Movement in Barak ValleyAssam was a protest against the decision of the Government of Assam to make Assamese the only official language of the state even though a large percentage of the population was Bengali speaking. The main incident, in which 11 people were killed by State police, took place on 19 May 1961.