Ganajagaran redundant now: Menon

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon has said Ganajagaran Mancha, the organisation that emerged from the Shahbagh movement against war criminals, has lost its appeal.

Menon, the tourism minister, was commenting on the police action against Mancha activists at Shahbagh following the court order reducing the death sentence of war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee to prison until death.

“Mancha no longer has that appeal among the public,” he said on Saturday.

Workers Party student front Bangladesh Chhatra Maitri was an active participant in the Shahbagh movement and the Mancha.

On Friday, one of the three Mancha factions that held rallies at Shahbagh was led by Bappaditya Basu, the Chhatra Maitri president.

Founding spokesperson Imran H Sarkar alleges that Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sayedee’s verdict was reduced because of collusion between the government and the Islamist party.

Menon said he was “not surprised” by the verdict.

“The court has done this before. When the whole nation was in uproar over Ghulam Azam’s citizenship, it gave him citizenship because he was born here,” he said.

“The Supreme Court should have considered people’s expectations. Every court should come to terms with reality,” he added.

Asked whether the law or popular opinion mattered in a verdict, he said, “If you followed the law to the book many verdicts wouldn’t even be possible.”

Dhaka University law teacher Asif Nazrul said, “People believe that the verdict was politically motivated.”

“Awami League has betrayed Jahanara Imam’s movement. Although Awami League holds more of the spirit of liberation war than BNP, they can do anything for power,” he said.

BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman said his party was respectful towards the court’s verdict.

“But the judiciary is not as independent as it should be. There have been attempts to make political gains over this verdict. We will protest this,” he said.