Alas! Students
We are also hearing whispers that the New Market area is a hub of extortion and the ruling party politicians use “students” along with others to retain influence in the area. Have the politicians already turned some of our students involved with party politics into soldiers of fortune?
Any sane person will feel a chill down the spine even for having a single glance at the photograph that the English newspaper, The Daily Star, published following the clash between the students of Dhaka College and shop owners and workers at the shops in New Market and other nearby markets on Tuesday. A number of photographs were taken during the clash but this candid photograph would give any person an idea that many others will fail to provide.
A youth, wearing a helmet, is seen wielding a large knife while another youth is lying down like a rag on the sidewalk, strewn with brick chips while at least 10 more youths were looking on at the “scene”. The youth lying down on the sidewalk, was a live person. He was not moving his right hand that was rather awkwardly positioned between his body and the sidewalk. In fact, delivery person Nahid Hossain could not move any of his hands to fix his clothes and tidy his t-shirt that was pulled up near the waist. But this living person turned into a mere rag doll as the youth chopped and hacked him viciously. Nahid Hossain died under treatment after a few hours. In fact, another person, Morsalin, 26, a worker at another shop also died after sustaining injuries during the clashes.
Why did the students lock in clashes with the traders? Reportedly a worker of a fast food shop called in the Dhaka College students because of his fracas with a fellow worker of another fast food shop in the New Market over setting up tables to attract customers during iftar. They were beaten by the second worker and his associates. Taking a cue from the incident, the students approached the market and a fight broke out there between the two sides at night and in the next day. Still this remains unclear, why the students, who are supposed to spend time in studies and such, could be “persuaded” by a fast food shop worker to fight for him. After all, all of them are students, not soldiers of fortune who could be hired by anyone to fight!
2
Before the outbreak of Covid-19, there was a discussion and analysis going on in the Bangladesh media and as a result different cabinet members were forced to face questions on why the economy of Bangladesh is growing at a high speed but is not being able to create jobs in comparison to that? The discussion is yet to resurface in the media and in the public mind even though the situation has worsened and more and more youth are growing worried about their future. In fact, a recent study conducted by a teacher of the statistics faculty of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) and his three students among the university students finds they worry most about their future job prospects and this is taking a toll on their mental health. The study was conducted from October 2020 to February 2021 through an online survey at 62 universities across the country. But the situation is not much different among the students in other universities and university colleges. Dhaka College is one such college.
3
Student politics in this land has had a glorious past. They are the ones who organised the movement in 1952 demanding Bangla as a state language; they are the ones who organised demonstrations in the tumultuous times of 1960s that ultimately led to the Liberation War. Even after the Liberation War their steps were mostly for the betterment of the society. But the days are long gone by. Nowadays, as different media reports abundantly, many of the students involved with party politics are involved with extortion, tender manipulation, eating at restaurants and university dormitories without paying and whatnot. Every now and then they are found to be involved in clashes on petty matters and wield sharp weapons during those clashes. A Prothom Alo report on 23 April said that the police officials said the youth who chopped the courier boy Nahid Hossain with a large knife is a student of Dhaka College. They just do not want to disclose the name right now “for the sake of investigation”.
We are also hearing whispers that the New Market area is a huge hub of extortion and the ruling party politicians use “students” along with others to retain their influence in the area. Have the politicians turned some of our students involved with party politics already soldiers of fortune?
The question becomes more pertinent when we know, in 2014, one of the advisers to the Prime Minister said the leaders and activists of the ruling party’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, that “they” would consider in the viva-voce if the BCL men do better in written exams. Did that not mean the students were being encouraged to join BCL so that they could remain ahead automatically in viva-voce exams? There was strong reaction against the remarks that time. But is there, actually, any difference to consider the BCL men for jobs in viva and use them to retain any senior leaders’ influence by providing them some form of unethical benefits? Does that not mean a “soldier of fortune”? Don’t the leaders of ruling party’s student wing, in one occasion, force the general students to participate in their programmes wasting their sleep and study time, and at other occasion, luring them to provide seats at dormitories so that they could stay with less expenses and thus making them dependent on the party to ensure their future? There is no shortage of media reports on these. Does this not mean the students are being forced to take the role of a “soldier of fortune”?
4
When we think of students, we visualise young people attending classes, reading books, doing research, testing theories, travelling, listening music, having fun at leisure times, making new friends and learning a great many things and talking about how to take humanity ahead. This is more so especially at this moment of time when the whole world is shifting focus on knowledge-based society. But who are these “students” that are taking part in different types of crimes including killings and why are our leaders, even the law enforcement agencies, not stopping them in time?