Anti-Discrimination Student Movement suspends all committees except central one

The activities of all committees of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement across the country, except the central one, have been suspended.

Rifat Rashid, former coordinator and president of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Central Committee, made this announcement at a press conference in Shahbagh on Sunday (July 27) afternoon.

Rifat Rashid said that according to the organizational chart, all committees across the country, except the central one, have been suspended from today.

The convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement said that they will sit down and decide on the next steps.

He made it clear that anyone who contradicts with the spirit of the July Movement will not be allowed to use the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.

Rifat Rashid sought the cooperation of law enforcement agencies to prevent misdeeds using this banner.

Only those who declare solidarity with the July Spirit, not with money, will be able to join the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, he said.

For the past few days, there have been reports of various misdeeds, including extortion, using the name of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. Meanwhile, five people were arrested yesterday on charges of extorting Tk50 lakh from the house of former Awami League MP Shammi Ahmed in Gulshan, claiming to be the leaders of the anti-discrimination movement.

A case has been filed against them and they are being interrogated on remand. In view of this, the central committee took the decision to suspend the committees across the country.

During the quota movement in 2024, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ABSA) was formed by students. It led the quota reform movement and later the non-cooperation movement, in view of which Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee.

The organization was formed on July 1, 2024, and immediately after its creation, the organization announced a 65-member committee on July 8 to make the movement successful, of which 23 were coordinators and 42 were co-coordinators. After the movement grew in scale, the organization formed a 158-member coordination team on August 3 with students from various educational institutions of the country, of which 49 were coordinators and 109 were co-coordinators.

Since its establishment, the organization has been led by several coordinators.

Among them are Nahid Islam, a student of the Department of Sociology of Dhaka University, Rifat Rashid, a student of the Department of International Relations, Sarjis Alam, a student of the Department of Zoology, Hasnat Abdullah, a student of the Department of English, Asif Mahmud, a student of the Department of Linguistics, and Abu Baker Majumder, a student of the Department of Geography, Khan Talat Mahmud Rafi, a student of the Department of Dramatic Arts of Chittagong University, Arif Sohel, a student of the Department of International Relations of Jahangirnagar University, and others.

After the July Revolution, a new political party, the National Citizen Party, was formed by the top leaders of the anti-discrimination student movement. Rifat Rashid and others are still keeping the banner of the anti-discrimination student movement alive.