The ‘caretaker government’ that has been established in Bangladesh includes the two leaders of the student movement. Supradeep Chakma is the only name in this government that gives comfort to the minorities. Supradeep Chakma is a diplomat and former ambassador, while the government includes experienced economists from Grameen Bank and Bank of Bangladesh, military experts and human rights activists. Representing hardline Islamists, A. F. M. Khalid Hussain (Hifajat-e-Islam Party) is the only one.

My acquaintances in Bangladesh are optimistic about this government at present… Many acquaintances since 2017! In April 2017, I went to Dhaka University in Bangladesh as an invitee for the convention of Bangladesh Student Union, again in February 2019, I went to Dhaka University and Jahangir University for a similar program. Chatted informally, formally with students there, stayed with them, participated in seminars. The society, especially the students and the academic world, is definitely more conducive to a multicultural environment than the picture of Bangladesh that is painted in front of Indians or other countries of the world. Although the youth and students have transformed that country today, what will the next Bangladesh look like? Here are some things about it.

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It is true that some bigoted organizations and political parties in Bangladesh take a stand against the minorities but this is not the complete truth. Even today, Bengali identity is considered more important than religion in Bangladesh. Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja is celebrated. In many educational institutions like Dhaka University, Jahangir University, students and teachers of each department there celebrate Durga Puja by erecting pavilions and celebrating with feasts. In this, the number of Muslim students is more. There are statues of Buddha in the campus of this university. There are progressive movements in universities there, like the student movement at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. Out of the total population of 17 crore 22 lakh, there is a diverse composition of Muslims 15 crore 36 lakh, Hindus 1 crore 31 lakh, Buddhists 10 lakhs 7 thousand, Christians 4 lakh 95 thousand.

With the exception of religious fundamentalist organizations, all ordinary people live in peace and dignity. Many old traditional temples exist there even today. Minority Hindus follow their traditions without fear. This thing affects the religious organizations there. These organizations tried hard to break this multicultural tradition. But they have not succeeded. Even today, Bengali literature, films, Indian Hindi films, Indian telecasts, artists from West Bengal are very popular there. The people of West Bengal and Bangladesh still have blood relations between them. Cross-border families still travel to meet them at relatives’ homes. Given the deep roots of Bengali culture, it is not possible for long to control the people by forcefully imposing a particular religious system of governance. The real questions are irrelevant.

Rising unemployment

More than five lakh government posts are vacant in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh 11 crore people are working population. Three crore people out of them are unemployed. 18 to 19 lakh new youth enter the labor market every year. In such a situation, the plan to give well-paying and prestigious government jobs to Awami League workers in the name of freedom fighters’ families was bound to be controversial. Moreover, there is a lot of corruption in this. The method of determining who is a freedom fighter is opaque. The government declares its Awami League party workers as freedom fighters. In which people who had nothing to do with the freedom movement were also infiltrated. The outburst in Bangladesh came about because it was unacceptable for students to give reservation to Awami League political party workers as an alternative to the children and later grandchildren of such freedom fighters in a society already plagued by unemployment. Of the total jobs in Bangladesh, 56 percent were reserved, while 44 percent were filled on merit. Out of this reservation for women (10 per cent), youth from backward districts (10 per cent), candidates from minority communities (5 per cent) and disabled (1 per cent) will continue, but the 30 per cent reservation for heirs of freedom fighters will become history and 64 per cent seats will remain open. Hope so.

The anti-reservation agitation group named itself ‘Chatra Adhikar Parishad’. Later this organization split and a new organization called ‘Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti’ was formed. He formed the ‘Students Against Discrimination’ Coordinating Committee and included representatives of other new student groups. Awami League’s ‘Chhatra League’ student body continued to face-to-face attacks on the workers-students of this movement. According to police figures, 300 protesting students were killed in clashes with the police and the Chhatra League. But the protesters say that this number is up to one thousand. Because the protesters are saying that many students are missing. Due to the way such agitation was handled, the agitation went out of control at the hands of the Sheikh Hasina government. Moreover, Prime Minister Hasina calling the protesters Razakars and traitors added fuel to the fire. There was a feeling in the minds of the students that Sheikh Hasina might have put pressure on the judiciary in Bangladesh to maintain the reservation for the heirs of the freedom fighters. But this bitterness has to be curbed now.

The challenge of fanatics remains

Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh National Party attacked police stations and looted weapons from there. Now hundreds of them have weapons in their hands. Moreover, they have broken open the big jails and taken out the criminals who were imprisoned under the most serious crimes. Therefore, the biggest challenge facing the army is to take action against them and confiscate those weapons. The way in which the military has taken a suspiciously soft stance against these religious extremists makes the violence less likely to come under control. Therefore, the international community – especially the United Nations – should intervene.

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When Islamist militants in Bangladesh attacked during the country’s turmoil between 2013 and 2016, many secular and progressive writers, bloggers and publishers; foreigners; gay; Religious minorities such as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Ahmadis were targeted. Many were killed by Muslim militants. A total of 48 people, including 20 foreign nationals, had been killed in such attacks till July 2, 2016. Militant groups such as Ansarullah Bangla Team and the self-proclaimed Bangladesh branch of the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’ (ISIS) were mainly blamed for the attacks. But in June 2016, Sheikh Hasina’s government finally started action against these fanatics. More than 11 thousand people were arrested within a week. It is very likely that these people have raised their heads again during the student agitation. After ousting Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, replacing it with the religiously radical Bangladesh National Party or Jamaat-e-Islami would be a cure worse than the disease.

How to avoid this?

The birth of this movement of students under the banner of Students Against Discrimination is only two and a half months. So it would be an exaggeration to expect him to offer some political thought and a broad alternative. Therefore, eminent people of the civil society such as writers, thinkers, social activists, artists, retired chartered officers, retired judges, lawyers, education experts should take the initiative and create an ideological churn in Bangladesh. The first requirement is to create at least similar programs to satisfy the disquiet of students and people from different sections of the society.

The possibility of this movement going astray cannot be ruled out due to the burning of houses and killings of Awami League party leaders. Although the concepts of eruption, agitation and movement seem similar, they differ in terms of breadth and depth. What has happened in Bangladesh in the last one and a half months can be called an outbreak. There is also the danger of foreign powers using it for their economic and political advantage. It is now the duty of the caretaker government to transform this outburst into an ideologically meaningful agitation and convert it into a movement and to devise public interest policies against the anti-people government policies. It is more important to reject the old system than to provide a viable alternative to it.

Former World Vice President of ‘World Federation of Democratic Youth’.

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