DUCSU election: BGCS VP candidate Kader says he wants to stay alive, not win

Students are being discouraged from voting to give one group an advantage, he says

Abdul Kader, the vice-president candidate from the Anti-Discrimination Student Parliament panel, has said he fears for his life amid rumours swirling around the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) election.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Kader wrote: “I don’t have to win DUCSU, I only want to stay alive. I ask you to show me at least that much mercy. Since I spoke about that ‘Razakar”, it started and it is growing by the day.

“Since then I can’t sleep, I wake in the middle of the night, my body shaking. How much more can you do to one person? How much patience can a person have? I don’t know how many more days I can bear it.”

Kader served as a central coordinator of last year’s July movement. In February this year, he and several frontline leaders of that movement formed the Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangshad (BGCS), where he is convenor of the Dhaka University unit.

He alleged that harassment has crossed the line from online abuse to his family home.

“If the harassment had been limited to me online, perhaps it could be tolerated. But they have even gone to my house and spoken to my mother! They could at least have refrained from cutting a 10-day old speech and spreading propaganda.

“If they had shown my full remarks, people would understand the essence. This is only the beginning, five days remain. Thinking about what might happen by then leaves me even more traumatised.”