Students protest at declaring Hasnat, Sarjis persona non grata in Rangpur, JaPa demonstrates

Students have formed a human chain protesting against declaring Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, two coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination, as persona non grata in Rangpur by the Jatiya Party.

The human chain was formed under the banner of Students Against Discrimination in front of the main gate of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur (BRUR) on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, leaders and activists of the Jatiya Party and its student wing, Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, brought out a procession protesting at the “conspiratorial statement” against the party.

The procession was brought out from the JaPa office at Rangpur central road in the night. Later, they held a rally at Shapla Chattar in the Rangpur town around 10:00 pm.

Speaking at the rally, JaPa’s Rangpur town unit general secretary SM Yasir said, “Jatiya Party’s leaders and activists were involved with the movement of Students Against Discrimination in Rangpur. Two of our activists died in the movement while many sustained injuries. But questions are not being raised about the Jatiya Party. We protest against this.”

Earlier in the day, students formed a human chain at the main gate of Begum Rokeya University denouncing the statement of the Jatiya Party. SM Ashiqur, Rahmat Ali, Shamsur Rahman and Arafat Islam, among other students, addressed the human chain.

Earlier on Monday night, Jatiya Party co-chairman and former mayor of Rangpur City Corporation Mostafizar Rahman declared two coordinators, Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, as persona non grata in Rangpur.

Mostafizar Rahman made the announcement from a joint meeting at the party’s office at Rangpur central road where JaPa chairman GM Quader was present as the chief guest.

Protesting the statement, Students Against Discrimination brought out a rally in Rangpur on that night.

Interim government’s chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus has been holding dialogues with various political parties over the next parliamentary election and other issues.

Amid this, Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam expressed their grievances in JaPa’s meeting with the chief adviser.

In their Facebook posts, the two coordinators of Students Against Discrimination mentioned the Jatiya Party as an aide and enabler of the autocratic government of Awami League.

This created grievances among the JaPa leaders and activists.