PM Hasina advises BCL to stay on track

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) to 'stay on track' at a time it’s riven by factional feuds and unseemly controversies.

Addressing the 28th annual convention of the Awami League's student affiliate at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday, Hasina warned against 'ideological degradation'.

"Your organisation may serve personal interests if it suffers ideological degradation. But such an organisation can never serve the interests of the party," said Hasina, who had once been a BCL backed vice president in the Badrunessa College union.

"An ideologically bankrupt organisation can give nothing to the nation and its people," warned the Awami League president.

"BCL's history is intertwined with the history of the Bengalis and their struggle for freedom. Its image must be preserved at all costs".

Hasina reminded BCL activists that they must adhere to the three key goals of the organisation--education, peace and progress.

She said the BCL will have to commit itself to preserve peaceful academic atmosphere in educational institutions as an organisational priority.

Hasina said that the BCL leaders would in future take over the reins of Awami League and run the country. "So they need to remain committed to progress and modernity."

She reiterated the need to enforce the age limit for BCL membership to 29.

"The age limit was 27, now it is 29."

Hasina recalled the BCL's role in fighting the violence unleashed by the BNP-Jamaat alliance in the rundown to the Jan 2014 national elections.

She insisted that the BCL's leadership will be 'elected by members and not imposed from the top'.

"Maintaining the BCL's tradition is most important," she reminded the delegates at Saturday's convention.