Quota reform demand is just the tip of the iceberg

If the prevailing situation is not perceived to be just the tip of the iceberg, grave danger may follow. Any protest or agitation may have an innocuous start. Sometimes a very mundane demand of the rising middle-class may balloon into a demand of the greater masses.

We recall Tunisia. One day, like any other day of the week, a man who lived hand to mouth had turned up at a shop to buy bread, but the price was out of reach. He haggled with the shopkeeper, they argued, things spiralled out of control and the shopkeeper punched the poor customer.

The hungry poverty-stricken man, wanting just a piece of bread, fell to the ground never to rise again. He died there on the spot. No one was prepared for such an incident. The passersby, the crowd that had gathered to watch the skirmish, could all relate to the predicament of the customer who could not afford a piece of bread. They saw themselves lying in that inert body on the ground.

To the people, the shop charging a high price for bread became a symbol of the autocratic government. The shopkeeper fled and escaped the wrath of the people, but the shop was set on fire and razed to the ground. Men and women took to the streets in mass procession, carrying the body of the ill-fated man. Thousands of people joined his funeral. The funeral was over, the body was buried, but the anger of the people was not assuaged. It simply grew and exploded in violence.

Those in power felt that since the issue had burst out over bread, let's bring down the price of bread. But that did not appease the people. The rage grew further. The rulers, isolated from the people, just saw bread. But the people saw a shattered country in the piece of bread. They saw the country, like a piece of crumbling bread, had been overridden with corruption, with opportunists siphoning the wealth overseas.

While the initial demand of the agitating people had been to hang the shopkeeper and cancel the licences of all bread shops, it did not remain restricted to that. The persistent protests spilled over the borders.

It would be foolish to believe that the latest quota reform movement launched by the students was simply about jobs. There are many suppressed sighs of deprivation hidden behind the quota movement. After going through so much difficulty to get admitted into university, the students don't get places to stay, don't get decent meals, don't get books in the library, don't get a simple stool to sit on and study. They have to go at the break of day, without a morsel to eat, in order to queue up in front of the library. They go through such suffering and deprivation at every step.

Despite all this, they forge ahead. They have hopes and aspirations. But when their dreams of getting a job slips away like quicksilver due to the quota system, they can hardly be expected to sit idle.

Once, four students of a government university college very near Dhaka University were our fellow travellers. We were going to see a community school set up by architect Iqbal Habib in Chatmohor, Pabna.

While talking to these four cheerful young persons, I was struck at how upbeat and enthusiastic they were despite all the trials and tribulations they faced. In their very own educational institutions they were deprived, neglected and treated like third class citizens.

Filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki quite aptly wrote on his Facebook, "Those who imagine that the movement is just about jobs, are delusional. Just listen carefully to the slogans. You will see that this movement is for equal dignity for all citizens. It is to bring a halt to living like third class citizens in one's own country. It is to remind those in state power that they are not the owners of the country, the people are the real owners. This movement is also against the fact that the state does not bother about the people. These protestors understand the state could not care less about the people. That is why I heard the matter of votes echoed in the slogans. That  is how I read it."

Those fellow travellers of ours informed us that even after reaching the Masters stage, they still could not get a seat in the halls by fair means. Even after the hall authorities allocated seats in their names, not a single one of them were allowed to stay in the halls. Unless they paid a one-time payment of 30,000 taka or 40,000 taka in "dues" to the party boss, they would not be able to move into the rooms allocate for them.

The authorities were not unaware of this. So where do they stay, particularly the girl students? They rent rooms in government quarters near the university and live together there. But it is not pleasant at all, as many of the landlords are lecherous louts. Even if they are lucky enough to pay a one-time payment and get to stay in the hall, they have to pay a monthly fee to the leader. And then there is the intermittent "toll" during various festivals.

The "prison called 'gono' room," as dubbed by writer Mohiuddin Ahmad, exists there too. A young relative of mine, the same age as Abu Sayeed who was recently killed in the quota reform movement, studies at a public university outside of Dhaka. Even in three years he did not get a room allocated in his name. He lives in a mess. He had approached the provost time and again. He was simply told, "Go to the leaders. You will get a seat if they want." He even went to those leaders. They told him, "The system can't be broken for your sake. So what if you are a senior now? Stay in the gono room (mass room), join in the meetings and processions, then we'll see."

The issue of such irregularities and discriminatory systems was raised in the 2018 quota movement too. But when the decision was taken to simply abolish the quota system entirely, the students were so euphoric that they did not murmur a word about the deprivations and discriminations in their student lives. The leaders of that movement were immersed in dreams of becoming bigger leaders in the days ahead. They were diverted to other pastures.

The latest right-point demand of the students this time also speaks of eliminating the heavy burden of deprivation and discrimination of their academic lives. For example, (a) the administration must allocate seats in the halls, (b) there must be student unions, (c) bring an end to academic harassment.

While the demand for quota reforms had been met in full, this will not eliminate the prevailing deprivation and discrimination. The student will remain steeped in unrest. And this unrest may suddenly flare up again any day over any issue.

And so, just as the court provided directives regarding the quota system even amid the curfew, the university syndicates must attach equal importance to ensuring the other demands of the students are met as soon as possible. Only then will the student unrest and agitation be pacified. If not, it will continue to simmer.

* Gawher Nayeem Wahra is a writer and researcher. He can be contacted at [email protected]

** This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir