Desk Report:
In the context of the change of power after the July coup, an unprecedented incident took place in the Dhaka University Central Student Union (DUCSU) elections. DUCSU, where the student organization of the party opposing Bangladesh’s independence never had a place, is now almost under the control of the Islami Chhatra Shibir. The Jamaat-e-Islami student organization won most of the posts, including the VP. On the other hand, the Chhatra Dal won DUCSU in the elections after the mass uprising in the 1990s, but the BNP student organization has now suffered a crushing defeat.
In the September 9 elections, the Chhatra Shibir-supported ‘Unified Student Alliance’ won 23 out of 28 posts, including the VP, GS, and AGS of DUCSU. On the other hand, no one from the Chhatra Dal panel won in the Central Student Union. Discussions are now underway about this result. Some expressed surprise at Shibir’s such a result, but many had predicted it.
They say that even if they do not believe in political ideology, many people want to trust Shibir’s candidates as an alternative considering its past activities of occupying the campus. Shibir has apparently been able to influence a large section of students with regular tactics and organizational preparations. Some say that they have gained a big advantage because of their ‘good understanding’ with the top officials of the university administration.
On the other hand, many teachers and students see the late announcement of the panel, lack of innovation in the campaign, lack of coordination and lack of strategy behind the failure of Chhatra Dal. Some want to show the formation of committees at the hall level in the university as the reason.
A Dhaka University teacher who did not want to be named told Ajker Patrika that Chhatra Dal could not properly grasp the pulse of whether or when the DUCSU elections would be held. On the other hand, since Chhatra Shibir has a good understanding with the top officials of the university administration, they were able to know all the information in advance and thus got the opportunity to arrange their plans. As a result, Shibir was already ahead of Chhatra Dal in the DUCSU elections.
Regarding the reasons for Chhatra Dal’s debacle, Sujan Mia, a student of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, said that after August 5, Chhatra Dal has only pursued politics of taking credit. The allegations of extortion and violence against BNP workers have had an impact on the DUCSU elections.
Muhsin Hall resident student Naeem Islam believes that the students did not take Chhatra Dal’s efforts to organize an organization at the hall level well. According to him, public opinion has been formed to stop politics at the hall level in the university.
Naeem Islam said, “After the coup, we wanted student politics to be stopped at the hall level. But after the fall of the government, Chhatra Dal started occupying politics again with the hall committee. Their workers threatened dissenters.”
However, Chhatra Dal’s senior joint secretary Mominul Islam Zisan blamed the ‘hastily’ organizing the DUCSU elections as the reason for the disaster. In an interview with Ajker, he said that Chhatra Dal was not ‘fully prepared’ to participate in the elections. They were also ‘undecided’ about going to the elections. Apart from that, ‘manipulation to defeat Chhatra Dal’ is one of the reasons for the defeat.
Various sources on campus say that Chhatra Dal was far behind Shibir in social media campaigning. Chhatra Dal’s ‘overconfidence’ after the fall of the Awami League in the coup and the organization’s overall position on campus in the past year became a black mark for them in the elections.
Reasons for Shibir’s rise in DUCSU
Where DUCSU has never been able to contest with a panel since independence, this time Chhatra Shibir has announced a full panel and won 23 out of 28 posts. For this, students see the strategy of maintaining diversity in the panel, extensive campaigning on social media, and conducting various activities on campus keeping the students in mind as the main reasons for their victory.
According to them, Chhatra Shibir was ahead of all other organizations in the voting field due to these strategies.
Farhana Yasmin, a student of the university’s management department, said, “We liked Shibir’s approach on campus after the July uprising. They installed water filters in the halls, organized cultural programs, writing competitions, and science fests at TSC; which caught the attention of ordinary students. But after the uprising, we haven’t seen any such activities by Chhatra Dal.”
Raudmila Islam, a student of Rokeya Hall, said, “Shibir has maintained secularism. It has worked for everyone. We have often seen that trying to suppress the opposition is part of politics. But when Shibir went to the hospital to check on Meghmalla Basu, the GS candidate of the Resistance Council, it created a kind of positive image.”
Zubair Ahmed, a student of the International Relations Department, said, “There has been a paradigm shift among students after the mass uprising. We no longer want the politics of blaming. Shibir is not based on its manifesto; Rather, many voted because of the behavior of not imposing responsibility.
A student named Samania Jannati said, “We were afraid that Chhatra Dal would dominate the campus like Chhatra League. We voted for Shibir as an alternative because of that fear. Chhatra Dal’s activities were also highly criticized in the past one year.”
A teacher at Dhaka University, who did not want to be named, said that in the last two decades, madrasa students have been continuously getting admission in public universities. This rate is gradually increasing. Shibir has won the votes of most of the madrasa students of DU.
What did Shibir do to win?
After the fall of the Awami League government in the mass uprising, Shibir started openly playing politics on the Dhaka University campus. In the beginning, they planned and helped the students
Several organizational steps were taken.
Notable among these were installing water filters in various halls, keeping bicycle pumps in the hall guard room, providing free emergency medicines, and organizing a Qurbani fest for students staying in the hall during Eid al-Adha.
Apart from this, Shibir has been campaigning for a long time in coaching centers, student messes and halls. In addition, they have also been campaigning online with extensive preparations.
In addition, many people found their panel acceptable because they moved away from the previous custom and put women and non-Muslim students as candidates in their panel at DUCSU. In addition, many saw the introduction of women candidates in the panel in front of the media as positive.
Md. Miftahul Hossain Al Maruf, who was elected as an executive member from the Shibir panel at DUCSU, said, “We have always worked for the welfare of students. We have organized health camps, helped indigent students. We did all these things before the coup. But we could not do these things publicly during the previous government. We did not do any tagging politics. Students know our conduct. Maybe that’s why they saw us as an alternative.’
Associate Professor Khorshed Alam of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism believes that strategic planning is the main reason for Shibir’s big victory. He said that Shibir has a long-standing ground in DU. They have used short and long-term strategies. Starting from the hall problem, they have directly participated in various issues. They have maintained transparency in their work; which has made a place in the minds of the students.
Dhaka University’s Political Science Department Professor Dr. Sabbir Ahmed said that winning the hearts of the students is important behind choosing Shibir. They have fluency in their speech, naturalness, and no heroism. The students may have taken their communication skills, manifesto, and the match between words and deeds well. Again, Shibir has been able to pull out the aspirations of July time and again. Chhatra Dal or other organizations were lagging behind in these matters.
