Tea Workers' Day today

Today is the Tea Workers' Day. On this day in 1921, around 30,000 tea workers in Sylhet left their gardens and started a journey back to the lands of their origin -- Bihar, Odisha and Assam.

But many were shot dead by the British Raj at Meghna Ghat in Chandpur district.

It was a protest march they called "Mulluke Cholo" (Let's go back home). The protest was against the inhumane working conditions and torture at the hands of British owners.

To mark the day, tea workers' in Habiganj will organize a rally on Monday morning (20 May) at Lashkorpur Tea Garden in Chunarughat upazila, said acting secretary of Tea Workers' Union Nipen Pal.

Sources said tea gardening was started in the Sylhet region in 1854 by the East India Company. Workers had been brought to Sylhet from Assam, Orissa, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.