Active student organizations want reforms before DUCSU elections

In the context of the mass movement of students and the public in July-August, the closed doors of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) are opening after a long hiatus. If everything goes well, the DUCSU elections can be held in the last week of January or mid-February.

However, the university administration has not yet given the roadmap for the elections.

DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Niaz Ahmed Khan said: "I will give the roadmap for the elections soon. We will discuss with the student organizations how the elections will be held and try to make the necessary reforms before that."

DUCSU was activated in March 2019, ending a long 28-year stalemate. Then, the elections were closed for four years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration's reluctance and the influence of the government party.

Ganesh Chandra Roy Sahos, president of the Dhaka University branch of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, said: "After the mass movement, the entire country, including Dhaka University, is traumatized. However, many students of the university, which was irked by the Chhatra League, are coming back to the hall. After many years, anti-fascist student organizations including Chhatra Dal are able to coexist freely on campus. Therefore, holding DUCSU elections on a very urgent basis or too late may mean destroying the level playing field.”

“The university administration should decide the time of the elections only after modernizing and implementing the DUCSU resolution with appropriate reforms, taking into account the opinions of all stakeholders. So that the students can overcome the terrible trauma and participate in the truly effective student parliament elections in a festive atmosphere with a good mind and attitude,” he added.

Sahos said: “We will soon inform the university administration of our specific thoughts on the reform and steps of the DUCSU resolution. We will also run awareness programs to inform and make the students aware.”

Chhatra Union DU unit president Meghmallar Basu said: “DUCSU is being launched after a long delay. Reforms are definitely needed before polls. The Chhatra League had influenced the 2019 elections. We have to see that no party can exert political influence in the future. However, it would not be right to hold elections without reforming the DUCSU.

Leaders and activists of three leftist student organizations - Biplobi Chhatra Maitree, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (Marxist) and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (BASD) - walked out of the meeting on student politics at the Dhaka University campus because the members of the Chhatra Shibir was present.

They claimed that like the Chhatra League, the Chhatra Shibir is also being rehabilitated. “The secret politics of the Chhatra Shibir under the shadow of fascist forces and the politics of depoliticization are carrying harmful signals for the democratic political environment of the campus. If the rehabilitation process of the Shibir is launched with the cooperation of the university administration, the Chhatra League will also have an opportunity to be rehabilitated through the same process. As a result, there is no opportunity to make the DUCSU elections controversial in rehabilitating the Chhatra League, Chhatra Shibir and the National Chhatra Samaj, who are accomplices of fascism, dictatorship and collaborators of genocide.”

Salman Siddiqui, president of the Socialist Student Front (Marxist), said: "The university administration will decide whether there will be a student camp in the DUCSU elections or not. We have no objection to that. We will go to students like us. We will ask them for votes."

He demanded: "Before the DUCSU elections, a democratic environment must be ensured on campus so that all organizations can campaign equally. The DUCSU resolution must be amended and undemocratic clauses must be repealed after discussions with student organizations. The administration must ensure that this DUCSU election is held in a fair process and not a farce like the one in 2019."

"The university administration must be neutral in the DUCSU reforms. The educational environment and democratic process were being disrupted at Dhaka University due to the closure of the DUCSU elections for a long time. After the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, the desire to put various institutions on a democratic footing has become strong. As part of this, DUCSU elections must immediately be launched at Dhaka University," he added.

Mozammel Haque, the organizing secretary of the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (Marxist), said: "If Chhatra Shibir is in the DUCSU elections, then it is necessary to clarify their politically controversial positions at different times. How their political settlement will be in the future will depend on that, how the students and we as a student organization will treat them."

However, Sadik Kayem, President of DU Chhatra Shibir, demanded: "Before the DUCSU elections, the coexistence of student organizations must be ensured. The constitutional issues must be resolved. We have seen that the university administration supported Chhatra League in 2019. We must ensure that this does not happen in the next elections."

He also commented that the university should allocate 100 percent seats to female students and focus on research.