Student leaders strive for political consensus

The Students Against Discrimination and Jatiya Nagorik Committee (national citizens’ platform) have started meetings with the political parties to reach a consensus in favour of the demand for President Md Shahabuddin’s resignation. Already the leaders of the two platforms have held separate meetings with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

The student leaders, who led the movement against discrimination, and the Nagorik Committee, want to stick to their demand and mount pressure on the interim government in this regard. The leaders of the two organisations have formed two teams to hold talks with the political parties. The two teams are holding talks with the parties separately.

They sat with the BNP leaders in the first meeting on Thursday night. A delegation from the two organisations went to the residence of BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed that day. Later, BNP joint general secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also joined the meeting.

Relevant sources say the leaders of the Students Against Discrimination and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee argued in favour of their demand for the president’s removal. They argued that the president lost authenticity after his statement which claimed there is no official document of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation. If no action is taken even after such contradictory remarks of the president, then the government becomes questionable. So, they are now trying to persuade the political parties to support the demand through discussions.

The BNP leaders in that meeting said their party had no sympathy for President Md Shahabuddin. However, they are doubtful over several factors, including whether there is any other vested intention behind the efforts to remove the president and the aftermath of his resignation.

Earlier, on 23 October, three top BNP leaders, including Salahuddin Ahmed, met the chief adviser and warned about the potential constitutional crisis as a consequence of the sudden removal of the president.

The BNP says a vacuum in the post of president right now would lead to a constitutional and political crisis, which they do not want.

In the meeting with the student leaders on Thursday night, the two BNP leaders cleared their stance in this regard. They also assured the student leaders of conveying their message to the top level of BNP.

Students Against Discrimination convener Hasnat Abdullah, member secretary Arif Sohel, key coordinator Abdul Hannan Masud, spokesperson Umama Fatema, Jatiyo Nagorik Committee convener Nasiruddin Patwary, member secretary Akhter Hossain, spokesperson Samanta Sharmin and July Shaheed Smrity Foundation general secretary Sarjis Alam were present in the meeting with the BNP leaders.

The leaders of the Students Against Discrimination and Jatiya Nagorik Committee sat with leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Friday. Jamaat secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, nayeb-e-ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher and Hamidur Rahman Azad joined the meeting held at the central office of the party in the capital’s Mogbazar.

Several relevant sources said Jamaat leaders agreed in principle with the demand raised by the students. However, the party stressed political consensus for its implementation.

The student leaders told the Jamaat leaders that they wanted to reach a political consensus among the parties through further discussions to remove the president and to finalise a course of action afterwards, relevant sources said.

All student leaders who met the BNP leaders, except Sarjis Alam, joined the meeting with Jamaat on Friday.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Jatiya Nagorik Committee convener Nasiruddin Patwary said, “We urge the political parties to stand in favour of our demand. We are looking to reach a political consensus. Our official statement over this will come after reaching a consensus through talks.”

The Students Against Discrimination set an ultimatum till Thursday to realise their five-point-demand, including the resignation of the president on Tuesday.

The following day the BNP leaders clarified that they did not want any state, constitutional and political crisis in the country at the moment centering the president in their meeting with chief adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

But the leaders of the two student platforms were not happy with the BNP’s stance. The issue was also raised in the advisory council meeting on Thursday.

An adviser told Prothom Alo several political parties, including the BNP, were against stirring any constitutional crisis at the moment. The student leadership are also adamant on their demand and have kept the government under pressure over this.

However, the government feels finalising a decision without the consent of the political parties will create further complications. Therefore, the council decided to resolve the matter through discussions with the political parties.