The Tea Workers’ Trade Union Center (TWTUC) shares this report:

Today is May 20th. On this very day in 1921, one of the most barbaric and brutal massacres in the history of the subcontinent took place at the Meghna Ghat in Chandpur. Falling victim to the cruelty of the British colonial rulers, thousands of innocent tea plantation workers lost their lives on that day.

Around the 19th century, the British rulers cleared the hilly terrains of Assam and Sylhet to establish the tea industry. To meet the labor shortage in these plantations, poor and indigenous people from regions like Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Madras in India were lured with the fictional promise of “Gaach hilayega, paisa milega” (shake the tree and money will fall). In reality, however, their lives became confined within the four walls of the tea gardens. They were given ‘tea tokens’ as nominal wages, which were entirely useless outside the plantations. Consequently, these workers were forced into a life of virtual slavery.

In 1921, after 70 long years of exploitation and torture, the daily wages of the workers were slashed to a mere 3 paisa under the pretext of a global recession. Faced with this ultimate humiliation and inspired by the passionate call of the ongoing Non-Cooperation Movement, around 30,000 tea workers simultaneously declared a rebellion. Their slogan was “Mulluk Chalo” (Let’s return to our homeland). Even though the British administration and plantation owners conspired to halt all train and steamer services, the workers set off on foot. Over the course of a long week, thousands of starving workers—including women, children, and the elderly—crossed hundreds of miles to reach the Meghna Ghat in Chandpur.

On May 19th, as the workers were boarding a ship, a sudden armed assault was launched upon them, and the ship’s gangplank was removed, causing many to drown in the river. Later, during the deep state of night on May 20th, while the exhausted workers lay asleep on the platforms of the Chandpur railway station, Gurkha soldiers—acting on the orders of the British administration—charged at them with unsheathed bayonets and firearms. In this indiscriminately executed genocide, the bodies of thousands of slain workers were dumped and floated away into the Meghna River. The rest were forcibly driven back into the slavery of the tea plantations.

Although there had been an indirect call from the major political parties of the time behind this movement, the only fierce protest against this atrocity was forged by the workers’ union of the ‘Assam Bengal Railway’. For the offense of staging a continuous two-and-a-half-month strike under the leadership of Deshapriya Jatindra Mohan Sengupta, nearly 5,000 railway employees were terminated from their jobs. Today, more than a century has passed. The history of the Meghna’s waters being stained with the blood of tea workers remains unwritten in our textbooks. We bear the legacy of the sacrifices made by these heroic workers who have been ignored by the pages of history. We shall fight the battle for our rights forever.

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Program organized by the
Tea Workers Trade Union Centre (চা-শ্রমিক ট্রেড ইউনিয়ন কেন্দ্র):

1. List of Tea Gardens (by District)

The poster lists various tea gardens across three major districts in the Sylhet division:

Moulvibazar District (মৌলভীবাজার)

• Hamidia Tea Garden (হামিদিয়া চা-বাগান)
• Moulvi Tea Garden (মৌলভী চা-বাগান)
• Padmajhiri Tea Garden (পদ্মছড়া চা-বাগান)
• Alinagar Tea Garden (আলীনগর চা-বাগান)
• Kaliti Tea Garden (কালিটি চা-বাগান)
• Karimpur Tea Garden (করিমপুর চা-বাগান)
• Bijoya Tea Garden (বিজয়া চা-বাগান)
• Muraichhara Tea Garden (মুরইছড়া চা-বাগান)

Habiganj District (হবিগঞ্জ)

• Lalchand Tea Garden (লালচান্দ চা-বাগান)
• Chandi Tea Garden (চন্ডি চা-বাগান)
• Ramganga Tea Garden (রামগঙ্গা চা-বাগান)
• Deundi Tea Garden (দেউন্দি চা-বাগান)

Sylhet District (সিলেট)

• Khadim Tea Garden (খাদিম চা-বাগান)
• Kalagul Tea Garden (কালাগুল চা-বাগান)
• Alibahar Tea Garden (আলীবাহার চা-বাগান)
• Daluchhara Tea Garden (ডালুছড়া চা-বাগান)
• Lalakhal Tea Garden (লালাখাল চা-বাগান)

2. Declared Programme Details

The Tea Workers Trade Union Centre has announced a multi-day event observing a major historic milestone:

• Occasion: The 105th Anniversary Programme of the historic “Mulluk Chalo” (Return to Homeland) Movement of May 20th.
• Event Type: Discussion Meeting (আলোচনা সভা) and Cultural Programme (সাংস্কৃতিক অনুষ্ঠান).
• Dates: May 20 – May 22, 2026.
• Slogan / Header: “Workers of the world, unite” (দুনিয়ার মজদুর এক হও)

Key demands declared on the poster:

1. The historic May 20th must be officially declared as ‘Tea Workers Day’ (চা-শ্রমিক দিবস) along with a paid public holiday.
2. The history of the “Mulluk Chalo” Movement must be included in institutional textbooks.