'A political party is granting unprincipled and unethical impunity to its student leaders' -- Mahmudur Rahman Manna

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Covenor, Nagorik Oikko and well-known former student leader, talks to The Daily Star about the recent spurt of violent activities by the Bangladesh Chhatra League.

The Daily Star (TDS): Though the misdemeanour of the Chhatra League activists in the public educational institutions of the country have been going on for quite long, it appears to have reached its peak now. What is your assesment of the situation?

Mahmudur Rahman Manna (MRM): First of all, it's astonishing to see that a traditional political entity like the BCL has so treacherously shifted from its goals and objectives. The student wing's contribution to Bangladesh politics and especially to the struggle for freedom is significant.

It's the BCL's internal defects and confrontational nature that's being blatantly exposed by recent events. Having a branch of BCL in Chittagong university is not very important. Its not like you'll lose power if you don't have a wing there, but it's shocking to see the reluctance to take any action against the errant BCL cadres.

What happened instead was that the PM's special advisor Mr. H.T. Imam  consoled and supported the BCL leaders pomising job security if they could somehow pass the written part of public competetive exams. It's an extreme example of a political party granting unprincipled and unethical impunity to its student leaders. You can say this phenomenon is common in the whole organisation.

It proves that the AL as a political party has become hollow, and in order to survive it is resorting to all types of unfair means. It has run out of politcal steam and inner strength. The party leaders seem to be living in a fool's paradise, thinking that there is no one to challenge them, as if , in today's Bangladesh, it is AL that is the supreme authority and it will reign for good.

It reminds me of the Ayub-Monem and Ershad regime.None of the regimes could comprehend  that a strong resistance was automatically being created as their unscrupulous dictotarial practices increased.

TDS: Chhatra League activists barred Dr.Kamal Hossain and others from holding meeting at Shaheed Minar in protest of a harrassment incident perpetrated by some of its members. Even the university administration had to bow to their arrogance. It seems that one has to seek permission to hold any programme in public places like Shaheed Minar from Chhatra League rather than the university authority.

MRM: This comes from the government's attitude of ruling by force. It happens because the ruling party along with its cohorts are afraid that they might fall any minute.The vibes of that fear is clearly noticeable in their unusual intolerence of any kind of protest.

Permission to hold meeting was granted to Broti, but since they participated without banner they were stopped from doing so. Participating with or without the banner is not an issue here. It is a silly excuse. The issue is that the meeting was not in favour of ruling party. This is similar to the incident of Pias Karim. The truth is that university authority cannot impose a ban on any programme unless it is directed from the ruling party. The public are no fools.

A place like Shaheed Minar, where anyone can go and voice his/her opinion, is now a threat for the ruling class. Any public space that's open to the public has now become a threat for the government. Now, one has to ask permission from police to hold meeting in a public place. Why does one have to seek permission from the police? The propensity for turning Bangladesh into a police state is clearly there.It's a clear sign of suppression of the public's freedom to move and talk.

TDS:  As a former student leader, what do you think is the way out of this oppresive political culture in public universities?

MRM: I think there is always scope for function and voicing one's opinion, no matter how oppressive the political culture is. It is we who have accepted that after every national election it is the turn of the ruling party's student apparatchiks to rule the public universities. When BNP comes to power , Chhatra Dal do what the Chhatra League is now doing. That's why Chhatra Dal do  not have an ethical stance to protest Chhatra League's activities. Other student organisation are too weak to raise any effective protest. Had part of the control of Dhaka University been shared by the oppositon parties then the situation would have been different. Even during the military regime we did not give in to their student organisation's oppression.

Another problem is that there is no effective leadership that can represent students' demands. Elections in student unions have not been held for over two decades. So the students cannot make their choices or voice their demands. In a broader sense, it is the effective leadership of students that our universities are missing.