Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti suspends its committees, activities

Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti (Democratic Student Force) has suspended its committees and activities across the country, less than a year after its formal inception.

The student organisation made the announcement through a post on its Facebook page around 3:00 am on Saturday.

Key coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination, the group that led the mass uprising to unseat the Sheikh Hasina government, were affiliated with Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti. Two of them—Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud—are currently advisers in the interim government.

All classes and examinations at Dhaka University have been suspended for nearly two and a half months.

The university authorities have taken an initiative to resume regular academic activities from 22 September, but a group of students demanded that student politics be banned on campus before the resumption of classes. They also held demonstrations on campus in recent days to press home the demand.

The demand to ban student politics gained momentum during protests against the quota system and following attacks by the then ruling party’s student wing, Chhatra League.

At one stage of the protest, Abdul Kader, a key coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination, announced a nine-point demand, including ban of party-based student politics as well as activating student unions.

The protest continued until 3 August, with the nine-point demand at its core, and ultimately shifted to a one-point demand for the resignation of the government on 3 August.

Following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August, a group of students became vocal – from online campaign to street movement – for restricting party-based politics on the Dhaka University campus. They vowed to refrain from attending classes until the authorities ban student politics. 

On Friday afternoon, a number of students, in a Facebook group of the Dhaka University students, urged the Students Against Discrimination coordinators to clarify their stance in the question of student politics.

Hours later, the Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti declared cessation of its operation through a Facebook post around 3:00 am, without citing any specific reason. The student body introduced itself at a press conference before the DUCSU building on 4 October last year. 

A coordinator of Students Against Discrimination and a leader of Chhatra Shakti, speaking anonymously to Prothom Alo, said their intention is to avoid controversy. They want to clarify their position to the students, as they had previously demanded a ban on student politics during the movement.

Abu Baker Majumder, the member secretary of the suspended student body’s Dhaka University unit and a key coordinator of the student movement, said, “The goals and objectives of Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti have largely been achieved. We had been considering the suspension of Chhatra Shakti committees and activities for a couple of days.”

He added, “We also made a decision around 9 or 10 August, following the fall of the fascist government. Finally, all committees and activities of Chhatra Shakti were suspended on Friday. There is no specific reason behind this.”

Regarding the future, Abu Baker said the issue is still being discussed. “We do not want any party-based student politics on campus. Our demand is for constructive politics based on the student union.”