The date for the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election has been announced. This will be the first DUCSU election in six years. This is one of the significant events in the history of Dhaka University that was established in 1921. DUCSU was established in the 1923-24 session but the name was something else at that time. Later, the name was changed into DUCSU through changing the constitution in 1953.
It may be said that the history of the DUCSU now spans over seven decades. As per the rules, elections should have been held at least 70 times during this period. But that has not been the case. The forthcoming election itself is taking place after an interval of nearly six years; the previous one, held six years ago, had itself followed an absence of almost three decades.
Though DUCSU, as a representative council of students and as a symbolic embodiment of their aspirations and struggles, has stood as a living emblem of the emotions, ideals and expressions of students across the country, it could be said that the DUCSU election has never been conducted in due order.
This year’s election is being held at a moment of extraordinary poignancy. Students have only just emerged from a river of blood. Within a mere 36 days, the fascist government slaughtered 1,400 people. Before that, throughout a 15-year movement, countless others had been killed, though no precise accounting exists.
What, then, will this election be like? What form and what character will it take? One must remember that the memory of that great uprising, only a year past, remains raw and alive in the nation’s consciousness. It was in that uprising that Abu Sayed, a student of Begum Rokeya University, set an unparalleled and unforgettable example of heroic self-sacrifice. The noble martyrdom of such patriots has stirred among the people an extraordinary resolve: to build a new nation; never again to permit fascism to take root in this land; to bring the plunderers and murderers to justice upon our own soil; to shape a country founded upon peace and welfare.
Are these sentiments relevant in the context of the DUCSU election? Unquestionably. During the struggle itself, people had already begun to ask: how much more blood must be shed? Since 1952 the people have given their lives in abundance—will this sacrifice ever yield lasting change? It was at that time the call for reform arose.
It is not possible here to elaborate in detail, but for the past two months the National Consensus Commission has been working towards such reforms. Mere emotion and protest cannot build a nation; that requires a calm, deliberate and carefully conceived programme of nation-building, a charter of reform which remains a work in progress.
In this regard, the role of students must be considered paramount. In a country as backward and educationally deprived as ours, students are the vanguard of both knowledge and reformist movements. They are the one preserved force that not only fights but also organises through the light of knowledge.
DUCSU is not merely for the students of Dhaka University; it is the lighthouse of struggle for students throughout the nation. It is not a mere tool for narrow community interests, but a beacon of collective aspiration.
We have witnessed their role repeatedly. It is well known that during the Language Movement, when political leaders were hesitant, even opposing the breaking of Section 144, it was the students who defied the ban and confronted the government with courage. It was for this reason that the language movement triumphed. Again, between 1960 and 1962, students rejected the Hamoodur Rahman Education Commission through a mass movement, which again succeeded. When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman advanced the Six Points in 1966, it was the students who established them before the nation, rationally and persuasively, as a Magna Carta against inequality. Had those movements been conducted solely within the narrow framework of trade unionism, the history of Bangladesh would have been different.
I am convinced that this year’s DUCSU too embodies the spirit of 2024’s mass uprising. Its stream still flows throughout the country. Yet it is equally true that we are not free of the traumas of the past. One must also acknowledge that in many instances revolutionary visions of reform have been swept away by the false promises of electoral politics—a fear now widely shared. Hence the call has arisen that the 82 reform proposals upon which consensus has been reached must not be allowed to sink into the quicksand of electoral manoeuvring. There must be explicit commitments to protect them; some have even suggested that they be given legal safeguard.
What pledges, then, will the newly elected DUCSU make to the nation? What kind of DUCSU do we want? Can the 200 million people of this country who are not students of Dhaka University nonetheless have expectations of the DU students or the DUCSU?
Did the people not raise such questions during the quota reform movement? Should students speak only of their own demands, or also of the needs of the nation? The people were elated to see students standing by them, against fascism. That is the defining relationship between students and the people—a bond forged over 73 years (from 1952 to 2025), unbroken and indivisible. No one can retreat from it.
It is true that in the past 15 years fascism inflicted such trauma upon the student body and the people that some began calling for an end to student politics altogether. Even today many within the university authorities maintain that student politics in the dormitories endangers safety of the students, and they propose its prohibition. They forget, however, that the notorious attacks on students were orchestrated not from within the halls, but from outside, at the order of the then General Secretary of the Awami League.
Although no final decision appears to have been made, it must be remembered that this DUCSU election will unfold under the light of the transformative spirit of the 2024 uprising. Elections are, by nature, political processes, but this one is inescapably political, burning with the energy of that revolution.
Will panel introduction meetings be permitted in the halls? Will outside students or leaders be allowed to address them? Can they do so without speaking of politics? As a former Vice-President of DUCSU, may I attend? And must my words be stripped of politics? Should I laugh or weep?
Rumours are already circulating. What kind of election will this be? Who will be the principal contenders? And with astonishment I hear another thing: many are considering competing as independent candidates. I won’t take the names but say that certain known leaders are attempting to erase their political identities. (They have gained some popularity in the past year). They intend to contest as independent candidates. Some are even said to have supported the recent moves to stop student politics in the halls.
DUCSU is not merely for the students of Dhaka University; it is the lighthouse of struggle for students throughout the nation. It is not a mere tool for narrow community interests, but a beacon of collective aspiration.
*Mahmudur Rahman Manna is the president of Nagorik Oikya
** The views expressed are of the author's own