I understand that for political parties in Bangladesh, student cadres are like nuclear weapons: The other side has theirs, so you have to have yours. In short, unilateral disarmament is not an option, as it will leave you vulnerable to the thugs on the other side.
But that is why the current political situation in Bangladesh offers such a unique opportunity for the ruling AL. For the first time in living memory, we do not have rival factions of student groups battling for supremacy.
The Chhatra Shibir and the JCD (student fronts of Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP, respectively) have been driven so far underground in the past six years that the Chhatra League reigns supreme on almost all university campuses as well as on the other traditional battle-grounds of student fronts around the country.
It is for this reason that, these days, when we read about violence between student cadres, it is typically intra-party violence between different factions of the Chhatra League.
Try as it might, there is no way for the ruling AL to disown the Chhatra League or to deny their connection. This was made very clear at the recently concluded 28th council session of the student front organisation, where the chief guest was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Everyone knows and understands that the Chhatra League operates under the protection of the ruling party in return for being the ruling party’s shock troops when needed. This means that the ruling party bears the moral responsibility for the actions of its student activists, if not the legal responsibility.
Certainly, this is how it is seen by the common man or woman in the street, who makes no distinction between the ruling party and its student activists.
In fact, it was the thuggishness of its cadres which was the principal blight on the tenure of the 1996-2001 AL government and the primary reason that they were removed from power by the voters in a landslide in 2001.
Today, the dynamic is similar, and achievements in terms of development or growth that the government points to proudly are, to a large extent, over-shadowed by the criminality of the Chhatra League, which serves to bring the entire government into disrepute.
Now, it would be incorrect to think that the problem of reining in its hoodlum element is a uniquely AL problem. All political parties, either in opposition or in government, have relied heavily on their student fronts in order to try to control the streets and enact their agenda.
Indeed, it is the Shibir that has made its name as the most ruthless and dangerous of all student front organisations, and it is not as though the JCD was any less fearsome when the BNP was in power than the Chhatra League is now.
The difference today is that, while in 1996, Sheikh Hasina might plausibly have argued that she needed the strength of the Chhatra League, and Khaleda Zia might have made the same argument for the JCD in 2001, now, the PM really has a chance to take steps to rein in the more criminal and unruly elements of her party’s student front.
Imagine a violence and arms-free Dhaka University campus, where education takes priority. Imagine no impunity for crimes because of the political connections of the perpetrators. Imagine businesses being able to run without having to pay extortion to thugs operating under the guise of student politics. Imagine tenders being floated and won by the most meritorious bidder.
Think of the massive benefit to the economy and the attendant improvement in the lives of everyday citizens. There is no one thing that this government can do that would have a more beneficial impact on people’s lives and be better received by the public than to impose a zero tolerance policy for crimes committed by its student front.
And there would be no better way for the government to signal that it really means business about building a new Bangladesh. As long as Chhatra League hoodlums are permitted to run roughshod over the rest of us with impunity, all promises of a brave new Bangladesh look like empty rhetoric and will be seen as such by a weary populace.
This is not to say that the Chhatra League necessarily needs to disband or cannot exist. I am sure that the organisation has no shortage of conscientious young people who are dedicated to the common good. It is important to empower them and to structure and discipline the organisation such that they are the ones who come to embody and define it and not the thugs.
As for the need to rule the streets and ensure that the government remain safe from the thugs on the other side of the aisle, that is what law enforcement is for.
With the opposition activists so powerless, there is no reason why periodic shows of strength on their part cannot be dealt with more than adequately by law enforcement, which would also set a healthy precedent for how to deal with violence and unruliness in the future.
Setting your own people on opposition thugs is no way to solve the problem and does nothing to create a safer Bangladesh governed by the rule of law.
The AL government today is the most powerful government we have had in the history of this country. For the first time since independence, it rules as a uni-polar power with no other significant power centre to contend with.
How the government uses this power is what the whole country is waiting to see. If it uses it to make the polity more functional and to enact the reforms necessary to improve rule of law, and thus the everyday lives of the public, then it can truly begin to move Bangladesh towards a new era.
But how it deals with the Chhatra League is a litmus test of the other kinds of changes that it wishes to bring, and will be seen as such by the people of this country. There is no better place for the government to start and no time like the present.
