Although it dates back nearly to the birth of the platform in February last year, the conflicts of interests among various groups centring the Gonojagoron Moncho have become obvious recently.
According to people close to the Moncho, there have always been two broad streams of interest surrounding its activities.
On one side, there was the ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League, who had from the very first day been trying to establish its absolute command over the platform.
On different ocassions, it got support from the JSD Chhatra League, Chhatra Moitree and Chhatra Andolan, whose mother organisations are all allied to the ruling party.
On the other hand, the student fronts of the leftist organisations outside the Awami League-led alliance – Chhatra Union, Chhatra Front, Chhatra Federation, Biplobi Chhatra Moitree, Chhatra Oikya Forum – tried to hold onto their influence over the Moncho.
As a result, there has always been disagreements surrounding the programmes, duration of the movement and leadership since the time the Moncho was formed.
The Chhatra League-led groups have repeatedly accused the other groups of undermining their activists, nontrasparently managing funds and blamed spokesperson Imran H Sarkar for his autocratic attitude.
Unconfirmed sources said trade bodies, individuals and organisations closely linked with the ruling party have on different ocassions donated amounts ranging from Tk20 lakh to Tk10,000 to the Moncho.
The leaders of the second group have always said as soon as the Moncho started raising voice against various irregularities, it lost its utility to the ruling party, who since then had been trying to eliminate it, mainly using its student front.
However, activists close to the Moncho believe that the Shahbagh movement has been extended more than was needed.
They said the Moncho should have given a pause soon after the initial demand for amending the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act was realised, that eventually ensured capital punishment for Quader Molla. The movement should from then onwards be taken forward in phases.
They also said lack of foresight of the top leadership of the platform was another vital reason why things started going wrong and the Moncho lost most of the overwhelming public support it got initially. The reference was to Imran H Sarkar, who, they said, failed to see the importance of not elongating the movement.
Sources said Imran used to be an active member of the Chhatra League when he was a student of the Rangpur Medical College. There are rumours that the Awami League government orchestrated his rise to the leadership of the Moncho becuase he had been loyal to the party. At that time, the student groups decided to accept him becuase they thought a fresh face would help their cause.
The first issue that reportedly led to a conflict between the Moncho and the Chhatra League was surrounding its slogan. The Moncho wanted it to be “Joy Bangla, Joy Janata” (meaning hail Bangla, hail people), which sounded much neutral. The Chhatra League, which till then was working closely with the Moncho, wanted the platform to adopt Awami League’s slogan – the famed “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.”
The next conflict arose when Chhatra League wanted the Moncho to slow down after the government on February 17 last year amended the ICT act keeping provision for the state side to appeal against tribunal verdict. But the other anti-Chhatra League groups wanted the movement to continue.
Seeking anonymity, one of the coordinators of the Moncho said Chhatra League President Badiuzzaman Shohagh last attended a meeting of the Moncho in March last year. He walked out of that meeting protesting a decision to gherao the prime minister’s office in support of the Moncho’s six-point demand. He has never been seen with the Moncho again.
More recently, Moncho acitivists got involved in a scuffle with the Chhatra League men on the internet after the Moncho strongly criticised the government for taking money from the Jamaat-owned Islami Bank for organising the national anthem event on Independence Day.
On March 26, the Moncho was forced to stage its scheduled programme in front of the Public Library after a pro-Chhatra League group named “Gourob Ekattor” took possession of a temporary shade in Shahbagh that was until then being used by the Moncho.
On the very same day, the Chhatra League brought allegations of defaming the national flag against the Moncho. The next day, it brought out a anti-Moncho procession on the Dhaka University campus.
On April 4, the Gonojagoron Moncho and another pro-Chhatra League group named “Muktijoddha Santan Command” called programmes at Shahbagh at the same time. When the two groups gathered there, their members got into a scuffle. Soon after, the groups filed separate cases against each other with the Shahbagh police station.
FM Shahin, general secretary of Gourob Ekattor, was the general secretary of a local unit of Chhatra League in Narail district from 2008-10. Meanwhile, Mehedi Islam, president of the Muktijoddha Command Council, have been seen on various ocassions attending Chhatra League programmes actively.
Chhatra League chief Shohagh said: “We do not have any conflict with the Gonojagoron Moncho. We are also carrying our own movement forward in the same demand that they have.”
He also claimed none of the members of his organisation had ever been involved with attacking Moncho activists.
Seeking anonymity, another organiser of the Moncho said spokesperson Imran had recently been ignoring some of the other figures, who had been there with the movement since the beginning.
Instead he had been trying to form another structure of his own along with some new faces such as Nabendhu Saha Joy, Reshmi Akhter, Sayeeda Sultana Anny and Imrul Kayes. Sources said none of these people have any credential as organisers.
A former student leader said the Moncho had lost all the spirit that it had started with; now everyone was busy reaping their own benefits such as grabbing media limelight.
Bappaditya Basu, president of Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree, told the Dhaka Tribune that Imran had been taking most of the decisions on financial matters and most other things on his own.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Imran said the ruling party has been unhappy with the Moncho becuase it had on different ocassions strongly criticised some of the government actions.
Regarding allegations about financial nontransparency, he claimed that he had never taken any money from anyone personally. “Whoever wanted to donate money, had to come to Shahbagh and do it in front of people,” he said.
He however did not say anything about not having an official bank accout for managing the Moncho’s finances.
Claiming that misunderstanding were natural to arise surrounding a movement that had been going on for so long, Imran expressed hopes about being able to resolve the existing conflicts through discussions.