The infiltration of Shibir cadres and the domination, for personal gain, of Rajshahi city AL leaders on the Rajshahi University unit BCL committee, are two reasons for the committee’s many failures, sources said.
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of the Rajshahi University unit reportedly have not been able to organise a single major national programme on the campus in the last five years.
The most recent BCL committee was formed on July 20, 2013 with Mizanur Rahman Rana as president and SM Towhid Al Hossain Tuhin as secretary.
Tuhin was expelled by the central committee three months ago for threatening and beating up the chief engineer of the university over his failure to pay the student leader extortion money.
Since then, Khaled Hossain Biplob has been the acting secretary of the BCL university unit.
Ibrahim Hossain Moon was president of RU BCL in 2009, Awal Kabir Joy was president in 2010 for two years, and Ahmed Ali Mollah was elected president in 2012.
None of the committees has been able to organise a national programme since 2009, not even on days like August 15, December 16 and February 21.
Their only activity has been to be involved in showdowns and protests on campus, according to several senior students of the university, who asked to not be named.
Sources within both BCL and Islami Chhatra Shibir said at present there are 171 members in RU BCL committees of which 30 to 35 are actually Shibir members.
The Dhaka Tribune was able to get hold of the names of some of the cadres but failed to confirm their posts.
These Shibir agents working inside the BCL are president group members Mehedi, Bony (management), Bani (political science), Selim, Mehedi, Rinet, Shawon, Islam, Mizan, Runi and Billah.
Secretary group members Himu, Tamim, Mamun, Tagar, Masud, Sumon, Ashif and Rifat also reportedly work for Shibir.
A Shibir leader, on condition of anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that some members of his organisation are able to work within the BCL by changing their names and hiding their identities. Some BCL members have switched sides as well, he said.
One way Shibir has won over members of the opposing party is to stand in support of BCL members beaten up by other BCL members; that act of personal support is paid back in political allegiance.
It was alleged that because of massive support from Shibir leaders, it is unlikely that the present RU BCL unit president Rana would take stringent action in certain circumstances.
Ahsanul Haque Pintu, an AL leader elected three times as secretary to the RU BCL committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that most leaders inside the BCL committee are Shibir cadres.
“How is it possible to organise a programme in such a situation?” he asked.
A senior teacher of the university told the Dhaka Tribune: “When the AL government came to power, the BCL committee would not even hold a procession on campus. But the then president of BCL, Ibrahim Hossain Moon, was able to bring out a procession at noon with over 300 people, although it was scheduled for the morning.
“When progressive minded teachers went to thank him for the act, Moon told us that most of the activists among the 300 belonged to Shibir,” the teacher added, requesting anonymity.
Moon told the Dhaka Tribune: “You have to accept reality in some cases and there is nothing one can do about it.”
Asked about not holding any program on campus, the present RU BCL committee president, Mizanur Rahman Rana, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not actually true that we did not hold any programmes in the last five years. We brought out processions and sometimes formed human chains but all of that was conducted outside the campus as there was university embargo on activities on campus.”
RU authorities had in a syndicate meeting, on May 12 of the year, passed a 15-point order following the bloody clash between BCL and Shibir on March 13, 2009 that killed the then Shibir secretary of RU unit Sharifuzzaman Numani,.
The syndicate ordered all meetings, processions, gatherings, hanging of banners, sticking posters, campaigning and distributing leaflets be prohibited on campus until a fresh order was provided.
But there was no embargo on holding discussion meetings or observing national programmes on the campus.
A top BCL leader of RU, wishing to remain anonymous, said: “We could not do so because our firstly we could not getting enough people to attend and secondly the city AL committee dominates over us and only allows us hold programmes which are favourable for them. They want to use the university BCL committee for personal reasons.”
BCL president Rana said it was not true that the city AL committee disturbed them. He refuted allegations of Shibir infiltration into the BCL’s ranks.
Abdullah Al Hasan Sohel who was killed in a BCL intra-party turf war on October 16, 2012 was later shown to be a Shibir cadre. His father was also Jamaat-e-Islami leader in the Kaunia upazila, Rangpur.
Khairuzzaman Liton, president of the Rajshahi city AL, admitted that some Sathi level Shibir cadres had infiltrated BCL committees.
He said the BCL committee was working on expunging members of other parties and currently the percentage was almost down to zero.
He denied the city AL was trying to dominate the RU BCL.