Chaos in RU over new BCL committee

 

Angry protests erupted at Rajshahi University on Monday as a section of leaders of the Bangladesh Chhatra League unit at the campus demanded the dissolution of its newly announced committee.

The protesters declared the new committee bearers ‘undesirable’ and threatened to resist their entry into the campus. They alleged that some of the new leaders are controversial and do not have the support of the student body.

On Saturday after a break of seven years, the central BCL announced the new committee of RU BCL naming Mostafijur Rahman Babu as president and Assadullah Al Galib as general secretary.

At least ten of the 39-member committee joined in the protests. They staged showdowns on the campus with motorcycles and chanting slogans demanding a fresh committee, some others blocked the entry points of the campus.

“We were more than surprised when we learned about the new committee,” said Tawhidul Islam Durjoy.

The newly made president has been inactive in the campus since 2019 while the secretary was married and a dropout in the campus, he said.

Durjoy was made a vice president of the new committee, although he was among 94 student leaders who applied to the central committee for posts of president and secretary.

“They (new leaders) must hide their information while they applied,” said Shahinul Islam Sarker Don who was also made a vice president of the new committee.

One of the committee bearers was expelled from the campus, he said.

When contacted, Mostafijur Rahman Babu, president of the new committee, said they would visit the campus within a day or two.

“We’re in Dhaka now. We will enter the campus soon. Those who are protesting now will understand the reality,” he said.

He pointed out that the central leaders choose them in consultation with the Rajshahi city corporation mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton who is also a presidium member of Awami League.

“Who are they protesting against? Don’t they follow Liton bhai?” Babu asked.

The roles and sacrifices of leaders were not taken into consideration while choosing the committee bearers, said Md Shamim Hossain, who was made a joint general secretary in the committee.

“I’ve completed my degrees in Biochemistry and now studying the German language. How will I tolerate a leader who dropped out at even 1st year or who is not even a student or a married man or a businessman?”

“We may have done wrong and we have a system for correcting the grievances,” said the central BCL general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Enan, while talking to The Daily Star.

“But we will not tolerate anyone creating chaos in the campus in the name of protest,” he said adding that they have instructed the university authorities not to allow anyone to create chaos over the new committee.

End 

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