A CEREMONY to celebrate International Mother Language Day will be held in the town centre on Tuesday.

Organised by Swindon Bengali cultural organisation EKTARA, the gathering will see worshippers lay down flowers in Wharf Green in memory and honour of language martyrs.

The day, popularly known as Ekushe, is held annually on Feburary 21 worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

The date represents the day in 1952 when the students of Bangladesh laid down their lives for the right to use their mother language Bangla.

It was in 1999 that UNESCO first proclaimed the day as International Mother Language Day.

The day is hugely popular for the Bangladesh community who are the only nation in the world to have fought and to have the right to speak in its own mother tongue.

Bengali community leader Zahid Mia from EKTARA said: “We are inviting everyone to come along on Tuesday to help celebrate their mother language.

“We like to make it an event for the town and we hope as many Swindonian’s as possible come out to attend.”

The group first celebrated International Mother Language Day in Swindon in February 2014 and since then, EKTARA have been celebrating a number of other Bangladeshi events over the course of the year such as Bengali New Year, Independence Day and Victory Day.

A number of people from EKTARA are expected to gather for a small rally at 11.55am on Tuesday to form part of a temporary built Shaheed Minar, which is a monument built in memory of language martyrs.

They will lay flowers at 12.01pm and will perform a short length cultural function.