Abrar Fahad remembered: DUCSU VP demands 7 October be declared anti-hegemony day
Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) Vice-President (VP) Abu Shadik Kayem has demanded that 7 October, the death anniversary of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad, be declared Anti-Hegemony Day.
He made this call while speaking to newspersons after visiting the grave of Abrar Fahad at Raydanga village in Kaya Union of Kumarkhali upazila, Kushtia late on Thursday night.
“We have requested the interim government to officially mark 7 October as Anti-Hegemony Day every year. We hope the university administrations across Bangladesh will also mark this day in every campus as a day against aggression and hegemony. On behalf of DUCSU, we shall declare 7 October as Anti-Hegemony Day,” Shadik Kayem said.
The DUCSU VP further said, “Shaheed Abrar Fahad is a symbol of national unity in Bangladesh—a beacon of our inspiration. AS he spoke out against hegemony and aggression, killer Hasina and her accomplices (the banned Chhatra League) brutally tortured Shaheed Abrar all night and martyred him. The path shown by martyred Abrar paved the way for the July revolution. The ideals cherished by martyred Abrar Fahad were the very ideals and aspirations embraced by all the martyrs of July.”
Shadik Kayem continued, “For the past 16 years, the country was under a fascist regime. On every campus, Chhatra League terrorists robbed students of all their rights through the culture of ‘gono rooms’ (where a large number of students stay in a smaller space) and ceaseless oppression. Whoever spoke against hegemony and aggression was tagged, framed, and murdered. The whole of Bangladesh had been reduced to a subject colony of India. Everything here was dictated according to India’s prescriptions. We had to endure economic exploitation, political repression, and cultural servitude.”
“At that time, Shaheed Abrar stood up against all forms of exploitation, aggression, and hegemony, and against the Chhatra League terrorists’ brutal persecution. He spoke out, and he united the whole nation. We remember Abrar Fahad with reverence. The people of Bangladesh will remember all martyrs with due respect,” he further said.
Addressing the interim government, the DUCSU VP remarked, “The first anniversary of the July Revolution has been marked. The martyrs laid down their lives for a just, equality-based Bangladesh. Yet we see that the interim government has not embraced the aspirations of July in the way it was supposed to. This pains us deeply. We urge them to uphold the ideals for which our martyrs sacrificed their lives. If there is any deviation, the consequences will be worse than those that befell the killer Hasina and the fascists.”
During the visit to Abrar Fahad’s grave, his father Barkat Ullah, DUCSU executive member Raihan Uddin, and Dhaka University students Arafat Hossain and Shakil, among others, were present there.