‘Deprived’ BCL leaders protest alleged attack on DU campus

A group of Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders, who were overlooked for posts in the central committee of the ruling party’s student wing, have launched a protest on the Dhaka University campus.

The protest began in the early hours of Sunday against an alleged assault on the deprived leaders at the Teacher-Student Centre in the presence of BCL President Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury Shovon and General Secretary Golam Rabbani.

The BCL leaders who claim to have been ‘snubbed’ or handed ‘undesired’ positions in the new committee announced on May 13, have resorted to different forms of protest.

A delegation of around 10 to 12 students went to TSC around 2am on Sunday to discuss the removal of the ‘controversial members’ inducted into the committee and the clashes at Madhu’s Canteen on the day of the announcement, members of the disgruntled faction told bdnews24.com.

They were accompanied by the BCL president, general secretary and their followers.

At one point, BCL Central General Secretary Golam Rabbani had an altercation with the deputy cultural secretary of the new committee BM Lipi Akhter, also the president of Ruqayyah Hall wing of the Chhatra League. Rabbani’s followers then attacked Lipi and her supporters, they alleged.

Deputy cultural secretaries of the new committee Nipu Islam Tonni, Tilottoma Shikdar, Deputy Documentation and Publication Secretary Farida Parveen, Deputy Student Scholarship Affairs Secretary Shraboni Shaila, Deputy Secretary on Library Affairs Jiasmin Shanta were among those to be attacked during the incident, the protesters added.

The assaulted leaders subsequently staged a sit-in protest at the Raju Sculpture around 3am on Sunday. The BCL president and general secretary later went to there and pleaded with them to call off the protest.

Rabbani apologised to the agitated leaders but to no avail as the protest went on throughout the night amid rain. 

The deprived leaders vowed to continue their protest until they receive a statement from the prime minister on the issue.

“I can’t describe what we’ve had to go through. As a woman, I’ll only say it to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, our sole guardian. All of us present here have been humiliated and attacked,” BM Lipi told reporters around 5am on Sunday.

Chhatra League General Secretary Golam Rabbani was also involved in the assault, alleged Lipi.

“There was a conflict between those who bagged position in the new panel and those who couldn’t. I went to settle it. There was no attack. The deprived leaders are trying to make an issue out of it,” Rabbani told the reports while denying the accusation.

BCL President Rezwanul Haque Shovon refused to answer questions by the media despite being present at the scene until 5am.