BCL’s brutality, where does it end?
There seems to be no stopping Chhatra League. The president and the general secretary of this student front of ruling Awami League (AL) were removed from their posts for extortion, demanding commission from construction works and other allegations.
A drive is on against leaders of Jubo League, Krishak League and other affiliated fronts of AL for their involvement in illegal casino businesses, gambling rackets and unlawfully amassing wealth.
And now Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists beat to death Abrar Fahad, a meritorious student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Over the past 11 years BCL has been in the news basically because of killings, extortion, mugging and tender manipulations. The killing of Abrar on Sunday night brought BCL to limelight yet again. There has not been a single positive news report about the student front in the near past. And yet it was Chhatra League that had carved its name in history due to its valiant role in the liberation war.
Eminent academic Serajul Islam Choudhury, speaking to Prothom Alo, said that it was alarming if a student of BUET had been killed simply because he had expressed his opinion on Facebook. If there was no freedom of expression in the university, what was there left?
He said that what BCL is doing now is not politics. They are accused of extortion, grabbing commission from construction contracts. He said, “On the one hand corruption of university vice chancellors is being revealed and on the other hand, those involved in student organisations are carrying out all sorts of brutality. We have been pitched into darkness. This cannot go on.”
A section of AL leaders are irate at the activities of BCL and Jubo League and are openly expressing their ire. Even the prime minister Sheikh Hasina has warned them while speaking at several recent events. But BCL and Jubo league continue their nefarious activities, with hardly a pause.
AL presidium member and minister for agriculture Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, speaking to Prothom Alo, said that the BUET incident was unfortunate. He said the government would not let anyone get away. In the past too, no one got away with unscrupulous activities. The action taken against certain Jubo League leaders delivers a strong message. This must be understood. At the same time, incentive must be given for good deeds, he said.
After the present government came to power in 2009, Chhatra League became involved in all sorts of cruelty and violence. From 2009 to 2014, according to Prothom Alo reports, 39 were killed in BCL’s internal clashes. And 15 of other organisations were killed by BCL in that span of time.
In 2009, general secretary of a Dhaka Medical College BCL faction, Abul Kalam Asad alias Rajib, was killed and his body flung off from a multi-storey building. In 2010, Rajshahi University BCL activist Nasrullah Nasim was beaten up by his own organisation men, thrown off from a high-rise building and killed.
Meritorious student of Dhaka University, Abu Bakr Siddique, was killed in clashes between two factions of BCL in 2010. The same year Jahangirnagar University student Zubair Ahmed was killed in BCL’s internal clashes. In 2012, Biswajit Das, a tailor of Old Dhaka, was killed when Chhatra League leaders struck him with a cleaver.
BCL, instead of looking after the interests of the general students, has time and again attacked them whenever they took up movements for justified causes. They have been accused of assaulting students who rallied for reforms in the public service quota system and also the students demanding safe roads. BCL has attacked Nurul Huq, the vice president of Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) at least 7 times in the capital city and outside.
On 14 September, BCL president Rezwanul Huq Chowdhury and general secretary Golam Rabbani were removed from their posts for demanding commission from construction work at Jahangirnagar University, taking money in exchange of posts within the committee, abusing their power and more. They have been replaced by Al Nahyan Khan Joy as acting president and Lekhak Bhattacharya as acting general secretary. But there is no stopping BCL.
On 23 September when leaders and activists of the newly formed committee of BNP’s student front Chhatra Dal, led by its general secretary Iqbal Hossain, went to Dhaka University, they were attacked by BCL men.
On Thursday, when Jagannath University Chhatra Dal leaders and activists took out a procession, BCL men assaulted them. Chhatra League has also created unrest at Chittagong University and the Islami University in Kushtia.
Acting general secretary of BCL Lekhak Bhattacharya has said that criminals have no organisational identity. If anyone acts contrary to BCL’s rules and ideology, the organisation will not take liability. Organisational action has been taken in the case of the BUET incident. The rest is up to the law and the court. He said that BCL extended all out cooperation to the law enforcement to ensure exemplary punishment.
With AL being in power for long, its student front BCL has established a stronghold in almost all colleges and universities of the country. Several central leaders of AL, on condition of anonymity, have said that the party has been in power for so long that it even uses BCL to hit out at rivals, whether within the party or outside. Certain leaders of the student front now pose as a menace to the studious and general students.
Former president of the left-wing student front Chhatra Union and former minister Rashed Khan Menon told Prothom Alo, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had built up Chhatra League. Its movement against Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan is common knowledge. They even displayed ideology and commitment in the anti-autocracy movement against Ershad. But that has all changed. He said the BUET incident was deplorable. The prime minister has begun a cleansing drive, but this will not be possible if the student organisations remain associated with power.
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