Aggrieved JCD leaders besiege BNP office again

Agitated leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) staged a demonstration for two hours in front of BNP’s central office yesterday, demanding withdrawal of age limit and expulsion order against 12 leaders.

Over a hundred protesters of JCD, in a procession from Kakrail, assembled near BNP office’s front gate around 11:30am with an aim to change the schedule for the council of JCD, the student wing of BNP.

At one stage, they cut off the power connection to the party office and obstructed all from entering it till 1:30pm.

They also barred ex-JCD leader and BNP organising secretary Fazlul Haque Milon from going to the office and beat up a JCD leader as he tried to defy them.

Among those inside the office were party leaders Khairul Kabir Khokan, Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie, and Amirul Islam Khan Alim.

This happened a day after the election committee of Chhatra Dal declared a fresh council on July 15 to include new leadership in the ranks.

BNP has stripped 12 JCD leaders of membership on accusations of breaching the organisational code of conduct on this issue.

It all started after the party dissolved JCD’s existing committee and included a new age ceiling, which triggered protests among post holders.

Talking to reporters after their demo, ex-joint general secretary of the dissolved JCD committee, Farroque Munna, said they will continue their protests until their demands for withdrawal of age limit, expulsion order against 12 leaders and rescheduling of the council date are  met.

He said they will also stage a similar protest today in front of the BNP office. “We love Chhatra Dal, and we believe our leaders will resolve the problem through discussions with us.”

While some leaders of the demonstrating JCD group were going to Kakrail intersection from Nayapaltan, a few crude bombs were thrown by miscreants from behind. No one was injured in the blasts, however.

Earlier in the morning, another group of JCD leaders and activists brought out a procession at Nayapaltan -- welcoming the announcement of holding the student body’s council on July 15.

Later, they along with leaders and activists of different associate bodies of BNP took position inside the office to resist any untoward incident by the demonstrators.

JCD’s last committee was formed on October 14, 2014 with Rajib Ahsan as its president and Akramul Hasan as general secretary, and it was dissolved on June 3.

A BNP press release, signed by Rizvi on June 3, said candidates planning to vie for various posts will have to be primary members, students of any educational institution in Bangladesh, and must have passed SSC and equivalent examinations either in 2000 or later -- prompting demonstrations by a group of leaders seeking the withdrawal of age limit.

Meanwhile, the draft voter list of JCD was published yesterday.