DUCSU election: Why Chhatra Dal suffers a crushing defeat

From the very beginning, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)’s student wing, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal JCD), was in a state of hesitation and uncertainty over whether it would participate in the DUCSU election.

While rival student organisations were already active on campus in various ways, Chhatra Dal had yet to announce its panel. Even the activists and supporters of the organisation had no clear idea who would contest for the Vice-President (VP) post.

The panel was announced only 20 days before the election.

Chhatra Dal also showed no proper coordination because of insufficient preparation, lack of proper planning, and uncertainty over campaign strategy.

Over the past year, after the July mass uprising, while Islami Chhatra Shibir managed to ‘focus’ (bring to the fore) their two leaders, Abu Shadik Kayem and SM Farhad, in various ways on campus, Chhatra Dal, in that sense, could not present any of its leaders to the students.

On the contrary, even after the election schedule was announced, no one knew for certain who would contest the VP position on behalf of Chhatra Dal.

Over the last two days, Prothom Alo spoke with 10 former and current Chhatra Dal activists at different levels. Their assessment was that students had little trust in them due to the organisation’s long absence from campus. Campaigns were met with limited response.

Over the past year, the party failed to recruit new members effectively, and there was also a leadership vacuum. As a result, Chhatra Dal could not build meaningful connections with the new generation of students.

A former leader of the Dhaka University unit, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that even without Chhatra League (now banned) in the field, Chhatra Dal could not establish itself as an active and responsible student organisation. Their presence on campus was limited, their programs were weak, and they remained organisationally disorganised.

Shibir, on the other hand, the JCD leader maintained, quickly built connections with students, set clear goals and strategies, and stayed active. The results of the DUCSU election reflect that.

There has been discussion within Chhatra Dal that over the past year, after the July uprising, the organisation did not have a level playing field on the campus. They were unable to carry out programs in the residential halls, leaving them disconnected from ordinary students there.

After hall committees were announced, there were even deliberate attempts to create ‘mobs’ against them. At the same time, a certain group ran a continuous smear campaign against Chhatra Dal, claiming that if the party won DUCSU or if the BNP returned to power, guestroom-common room ‘culture’ would return to the halls and students would again be forced into joining processions.

Chhatra Dal central committee president Rakibul Islam told Prothom Alo that the election results are being reviewed. “We are analysing why the results turned out this way. We are trying to identify the reasons,” he said.

Ahead of the DUCSU election, a controversial remark about “July” made by BNP Chairperson’s Advisory Council member Fazlur Rahman (whose party post is currently suspended) triggered strong backlash among students. It is believed that this had a negative impact on the voting results.

Moreover, over the past year since the July uprising, BNP leaders and activists have been implicated in various incidents across the country, including killings, extortion, looting, clashes, and land grabs.

While the BNP did take organisational actions against some of those involved, such negative activities by its members seemed to have affected the DUCSU results to some extent.

In the DUCSU election held on 9 September, Islami Chhatra Shibir’s panel ‘Oikkoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’ won 23 out of 28 posts including VP, GS, and AGS. Chhatra Dal won no post.

Professor Kazi Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman of Dhaka University’s Department of Political Science believes that Shibir made full use of its organisational strength and resources in the DUCSU election.

He told Prothom Alo that Shibir had been preparing since 5 August last year. Their candidates were pre-selected, and they were ahead of others in every respect. They campaigned consistently for a year and reached out to everyone.

By contrast, Chhatra Dal leaders did not even know who their candidates were when submitting nomination papers, he pointed out.

Professor Rahman added that Chhatra Dal’s preparation was seriously lacking.

He also questioned whether the BNP had fully supported its student wing in the way that Jamaat supported Shibir with various strategies.

He further noted that if greater importance had been given to the leadership of the July uprising, independent VP candidate Umama Fatema and VP candidate Abdul Kader of the Anti-Discrimination Student Union would likely have achieved better results.

Students judged every individual’s behaviour after the July events, and they also evaluated the roles of political parties in that period before casting their votes, he added.