The talks centering Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) have been resurfacing after the fall of the Awami League government in a student-people uprising. All student organisations have raised the demand of holding the DUCSU polls. However, some of the organisations including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) sought reforms of the DUSCU constitution before the election.
Under these circumstances, Dhaka University authorities formed a seven-member committee for amending the DUCSU constitution. The committee held its first meeting on 1 January. The committee on 22 January sent letters to 22 organisations active on the campus seeking their opinions for the reforms. The committee first asked the student bodies to give their opinions within 8 January but later extended the deadline to 14 January.
Till 14 January, seven student organisations including Chhatra Federation and Islami Chhatra Shibir submitted reform proposals. The proposals include bringing balance of power in the DUCSU constitution. Different organisations also proposed that the DU vice chancellor (who is the president of DUCSU) cannot have any executive power in its operation and the elected members of the DUCSU will have the jurisdiction to take decisions and run its activities.
Besides, the student organisations have proposed adding the date of DUCSU polls as the ‘calendar event’, refixing the age limit for contestants (current maximum age is 30 years) and changing names of different secretarial posts.
DUSCU constitution amendment committee’s member and DU proctor Saifuddin Ahmed told Prothom Alo that the committee is taking opinion from all stakeholders. The committee will prepare a report in the quickest possible time and submit it to the VC after compiling these recommendations.
JCD did not submit the proposal till yesterday. JCD’s central general secretary Nasir Uddin told Prothom Alo that the DUSCU election should be held after amending its constitution. The organisation will submit its proposal today.
Meanwhile, Shibir’s DU unit president SM Farhad wants DUCSU elections within February. He said the constitution can be amended within January if the DU authorities want.
Last DUCSU election was controversial
The DUCSU election was last held in 2019. Like any other election during the Awami League regime, that election too was controversial. The election was marred by allegations of various irregularities. Sadharan Chhatra Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad’s candidate Nurul Haque was elected vice president in that DUCSU election while Akhtar Hossain from the same panel was elected social welfare secretary. Nur is now president of Gono Odhikar Parishad while Akhtar is member secretary of Jatiya Nagorik Committee. In that DUCSU election, the then ruling party Awami League’s student wing Chhatra League took the remaining 23 posts.
As per ‘Dhaka University ordinance, 1973’, five representatives of DUCSU become members of DU senate as student representatives. The 105-member senate does not have any student representatives right now.
Before 2019, the DUCSU election was held in 1990. DUCSU and hall union elections were not held for 28 years , mainly due to the non-cooperation of political governments. Various student organisations believe that the current changed situation has created an environment for DUCSU elections.
Ragib Naeem, the central president of a section of the Chhatra Union, told Prothom Alo that DUCSU's constitution should be amended and elections should be held quickly.
9-point demands had student union election
During the July movement, Anti-Discrimination Student Movement announced nine-point demands on 19 July. The seventh demand was 'banning partisan student politics and activating student unions'. Various student organisations, including JCD, objected to this demand. However, in the interests of the movement, no one spoke out about it at that time.
After the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, discussions began again on banning partisan student politics. In such a context, the university authorities formed a special committee to determine the nature and style of political practice on the Dhaka University campus. The convener of this four-member committee, formed on 14 November, is retired Supreme Court Justice Md Abdul Matin. This committee held a meeting with various student organisations on 10 December. In that meeting, various student organisations also talked about the DUCSU elections.
DU pro VC (administration) Saima Haque Bidisha told Prothom Alo that committees formed on amending DUCSU’s constitution and nature and type of student politics on campus are now working. A decision on DUCSU elections will be taken based on their recommendations.
Talks of reforms
Students Against Discrimination held a view exchange meeting with 30 student orgnisations on 4 December. Following the meeting, SAD’s convener Hasnat Abdullah told journalists, “We have reached a consensus that elections in DUCSU and other student unions across the country will be held between the last week of January to first week of February.”
Although Shibir joined the meeting, JCD and left student organisations did not. 28 organisations including JCD and left student organisations held a separate meeting on 5 December where they did not invite SAD or Shibir. The meeting discussed issues such as the DU ordinance of 1973 and DUCSU constitution and holding the elections. However, they did not discuss anything on specifying the date of the DUCSU elections.
Leaders of JCD and left organisations maintain that SAD wants to create some ‘faces’ of its own by holding the DUCSU elections quickly. Through these faces, they want to create a position in national politics. In this regard, there is some kind of understanding between the leaders of the SAD and the leaders of the Dhaka University branch of Shibir. These two parties have wanted the DUCSU elections by February. No other organisation has mentioned a specific time.
However, the leaders of SAD and Shibir have denied these allegations. They say that they are demanding the DUCSU elections quickly in the interest of the students. The talk of an understanding between the SAD and the DU branch of Shibir is not true.
In 1990, the DU paribesh parishad reached a consensus not to allow Shibir and Chhatra Samaj (student wing of Ershad’s Jatiya Party) to do politics on campus. Although the paribesh parishad met at various times before 5 August, the platform did not hold any meeting after the political changeover. The leaders of various student organisations allege that the current administration of DU has made the paribesh parishad ineffective to give an opportunity to the SAD and Shibir.
A teacher of DU who is in an important position of the administration told Prothom Alo that paribesh parishad is not any legal body and there is no legal obligation to keep it effective.
A section of students protested on campus on 2 and 13 January demanding an outline for the DUCSU elections.
Abu Baker Majumder, former coordinator of the SAD, hopes that student union elections will be held in DUCSU and other universities within the term of the interim government.
He told Prothom Alo that student union elections should be held soon to foster young leadership after the end of the fascist regime.