Tragic political price of a non-political movement

The events over the last few days centering the nationwide student movement, are both painful as well as condemnable and infuriating. In order to the teach the students a lesson, the manner in which government’s supporters and law enforcement agencies have snatched away six lives on the same day in three different places of the country is perhaps unprecedented in independent Bangladesh.

After all this, we are stunned and parents are heartbroken to see how the government continues in its political arrogance which has led to even more killings. After the death of six young men, the government simply continues to say “in principle, we are in consensus about quota reforms.” After so many lives have been lost, so many have been injured and so much property damaged, the law minister is now offering talks. Is this anything but political arrogance? No parent will ever be able to forget the scenes of the mayhem created by the armed men in the name of Chhatra League, by the cruelty of the law enforcement agencies, by the manner in which the girl students were indiscriminately beaten and assaulted at Dhaka University and other education institutions.

Rather than go into the details of these innumerable incidents of brute force being used to suppress the movement, it would be prudent to analyse certain aspects of the anti-quota movement and the role of the government. First it is necessary to point out that the movement has certain characteristics and phases that can easily be determined. For example, in the first 10 days or so the movement met with no obstruction. Even when they blocked several roads and highways, the police took no action to remove them from their positions. They did not question if they had permission for such blockades or not.

My own assumption had been that at a juncture when the people were suffering and seething in face of the faltering economic condition of the country, the government would not create any such situation that would unite all anti-government political and social forces. This is hardly the time to judge whether the assumption had been wrong or whether the government had made a big blunder. What is crystal clear, however, is that the people are infuriated at the role of the government.

The second phase of the students’ movement was sparked off by the prime minister’s press briefing on Sunday. Moving away from the government’s strategy of leaving it up to the court to decide upon the quota issue, offensive comments were made about the protestors, insults that the students just could not take. It had contemptuously been asked if jobs would be provided to the grandchildren of ‘razakars’ (collaborators of the enemy) rather than the progeny of freedom fighters. The protesting students took this as a downright insult. Had they not believed in the principles and ideals of the liberation war, this would not have been taken as an insult.

At midnight Dhaka University and other universities around the country flared up in a storm of protest against the ridiculing of their patriotism and belief in the liberation war. The demonstrators hurled back the mockery and scorn in their slogans on the streets. By virtue of the power of technology the scenes on the streets were seen all over the world. When the students of a hall of one university rose up in the protest, the other chimed in with all force. Every moment new slogans were created, the one which resounded the most: “Chaite gelam odhikar, hoye gelam rakazar” (We went to demand rights of ours, but were made out to be razakars.). The government and it supporters twisted these words and began to term them as razakars. The motive was clearly to politically degrade and humiliate these demonstrators. Does the judicial inquiry committee have the ability to investigate these political steps?

The central leaders of the party and the ministers were also active in creating this smear. The party’s general secretary told a press briefing that Chhatra League was ready to reply to the alleged insulting of the liberation war. And immediately after his statement, the situation took a dramatic turn. Armed assault in the name of Chhatra League was carried out upon the protestors of various universities. The pictures that appeared in the media of Chhatra League men assaulting girl students were unprecedented. And on Tuesday, the police took on an aggressive role too, alongside Chhatra League. As a result, in Rangpur the police directly shot dead Abu Sayeed. These are the characteristics of indiscriminate measures to quell the movement.

In the past too, all political and non-political movements were labeled with the anti-liberation war and razakar tag. Armed attacks in the name of Chhatra League were carried out on the protestors. Surely we still remember the quota movement of 2018 and the students’ movement for safe roads. But this time the students’ movement was visibly much wider spread and different in mood. While the student leaders of the opposition camp are supporting the movement, they have not been given space to speak at the meetings of the movement. They do not want the movement to be given a political taint.

From the start of the quota reforms problem and the unfolding events, it is clear that Awami League from the outset has had the political motive of labeling this as a conspiracy of the political opposition, BNP and Jamaat in particular. After Awami League came to power for the second time, it allocated a 30 per cent quota in government jobs for the grandchildren of freedom fighters. This is much more that the quota for the other backward communities. After independence there had been a special quota for genuine freedom fighters and there was never any political opposition to that. But questions arise about the justification of extending that down to the third generation of the freedom fighters.

The objection arose because the grandchildren of the freedom fighters are not of any backward deprived community. This discrimination is against the very spirit of the freedom fighters who fought to free the country of discrimination. And in the meantime, the unscrupulous and indiscriminate drive to falsely avail freedom fighter certificates in order to enjoy these facilities has been revealed. The valiant freedom fighter and well-known writer Mohiuddin Ahmad said that they were 30,000 freedom fighters who fought within the country, but the number has now exceeded 200,000 (families). It was during the rule of this very government that ploys have been uncovered of various ministers and secretaries and other at various levels who have manipulated things to falsely avail freedom fighter certificates.

For over a year there has been so much talk of economic growth, and yet there have been no significant opportunities for employment. There is a dearth of jobs in the market. In face of the movement in 2018 the government issued a circular suspending the quota system, but took no steps for reforms. The recommendations of the secretary committee were also put into cold storage.

Those who filed a case with the court against the suspension of the quota were beneficiaries or aspiring to be beneficiaries of the quotas. While the High Court spoke of upholding the quota for freedom fighters, it ruled that the government has the authority to determine the quota percentage. This was clear in the words of the law minister too when he came up with the offer for talks. So it is obvious that the government could have resolved the matter earlier. With the Appellate Division staying the High Court order, there really was no obstacle to come to a satisfactory settlement outside of court.

So from the series of events it is obvious that the government is responsible for the unfortunate and unwarranted situation. Had the government come to the timely realisation that no unjust decision becomes just by delaying it, we would not have had to see so many deaths, so much repression and losses.

* Kamal Ahmed is a senior journalist

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