The newly formed student organization, the "Bangladesh Democratic Students’ Council," has announced its full central committee.
During a press conference held at Dhaka University's Madhur Canteen on Thursday, at 4:30pm, the organization's convener, Abu Baker Mojumder, revealed the names of the committee members.
He expressed his regret over the unexpected clashes that occurred on Wednesday.
The full committee consists of 205 members, with Abu Baker Mojumder, the coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, serving as the convener.
The member secretary is Jahid Ahsan, the office secretary of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, while Tahmid Al Mudassir serves as the chief organizer, and Ashrefa Khatun as the spokesperson.
The central joint conveners include Touhid Mohammad Siam, Nurul Gani Sagir, and Jubair Hossain, along with students from public, private, and national universities.
It also formed a three-member probe committee to investigate Wednesday’s clashes.
However, although Rifat Rashid's name was listed as a senior joint member secretary during the announcement of the central committee on Wednesday, he has voluntarily removed himself from the committee, according to convenor Abu Baker Majumder.
Before the announcement of the committee, convenor Abu Baker Mojumder said: “We have consulted with students about what a student organization in the new Bangladesh should look like. Students no longer want a tail-end student politics.”
He added: “Therefore, we have decided that our organization will never resort to tail-end politics. The leadership of this student organization will be elected democratically, and there will be a specific age limit for students in this organization.”
The maximum age limit for the central committee will be 28 years. After enrolling in universities, students can assume leadership positions within a maximum of 7 years.
He said: “An unfortunate incident occurred during the announcement of the student organization yesterday, and we are sorry for that. We do not wish for such incidents to occur again.”
He added: “We have made every effort to resolve the issue. A group came and caused trouble, which prevented us from announcing the full committee yesterday."
He further said: "We want to clearly express that the spirit of July, for which students and the public have sacrificed their lives, will drive this organization to fulfil their dreams or aspirations.”
He also said: “We will not simply add everyone to the central committee of this organization at our discretion. We kindly ask you to join various units."
Meanwhile, leaders of the platform from different private universities have postponed their pre-scheduled blockade program.
Abu Baker Mojumdar said that the issue of private university students being “denied positions” was raised even before the full committee was announced. "This committee was in our hands yesterday, but we were not able to announce it," he added.
Naim Abedin, senior organizer of the BDSC, clarified that claims about private university students chanting slogans for Rifat Rashid are not correct; rather it was a faction of the “Mohanagar” committee of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement that was responsible.
"I hope this has been clarified after 30-35 students from private universities were included in the central committee," he added.
Rifat Rashid, who was accused by some to have “instigated” Wednesday’s conflict, was not present at Thursday’s press briefing. Abu Baker Mojumder said that he had resigned due to personal reasons on Thursday.
Many student leaders from private universities who had played an active role in the student-mass uprising have claimed that the leader selection process of the BDSC was not accurate and they were not aware of it. They expected leaders from private universities in the top positions.
Nazifa Jannat, one of the key coordinators from among the private university students in the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said she had expected the leader selection to be more “democratic” and “inclusive”.
