An open letter to the student leaders in the interim government

Student leaders in the interim government must uphold principles of meritocracy, transparency, and justice amid challenges

Dear student leaders in the interim government, Bangladesh today stands at a new juncture, metaphorically, at the head of a fork. There are two roads that lead us forward into the misty horizon of history. The wherefore and whence of our arrival here is for historians to decide.

What is instructive for all of us to remember, is epitomised in the famous lines from Robert Frost…

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Can we take the path “less trodden by” to make the difference that we really seek to make? Can you truly carry out your role as the flag bearers of meritocracy, justice and democracy to symbolise this turning point as a monumental milestone in the history of the nation---a point that would truly mark our emergence into an era of true democracy, transparency and rule of law?

Let me humbly point out to you and your mentors or advisors a few instances where you, knowingly or unknowingly, seem to be deviating from the untrodden path…and onto the oft-trodden path…the path you decried against!

We have been at such forks before, and each time we circuited back to the fork yet again. So, what really happened? In simple terms, we invariably deviated from the very principles which had ushered us to the fork and got distracted by narrow political constituency-building. Now, your campaign was essentially against the quota system, which translates to a campaign for meritocracy in the hiring of government employees and officials. The question that posterity will ask you and all those in the interim government: did you yourselves adhere to this principle? You must look deep into your hearts and answer this with total honesty and conscientiously.

Let me share with you the thoughts visiting the minds of many apolitical non-partisan patriots of this country like me. Many of us expected that you would form yourself into a pan students’ body to serve as an Ombudsman-like entity, while pursuing your education. It was a surprise to see that some of you were inducted as “advisors” in the interim government. How can the “stalwarts of meritocracy” succumb to the temptation of an office when the campaign of meritocracy had advanced behind the blood-stained garments of students who had sacrificed their lives for this very idea? By what measure of education and experience do you justify to yourself your fitness to lead the ministries of a government which is faced with singularly great challenges of our times? How do the principles of meritocracy tally with your accepting a role among the helmsmen of the destiny of the nation? You owe it to the nation and particularly to the students of the country to explain and vindicate your position on this question.

Posterity, distanced by time will gauge you away from the heat of our current times; theirs will be an assessment far more objective than we are willing to embrace at this time. The unmerited personalising of the success of a students’ movement will not be viewed kindly, especially in view of the lives lost. They might see your action of self-benefit without due process or requisite qualification as a selfish pursuit by design. Some might even see it as callous trampling over the blood of martyrs for personal gain. And let me warn you, there are parallels of student veniality that are likely to taint your legacy: during the Gen HM Ershad era at least one student leader was assigned a ministerial role and later an ambassadorial appointment, and there could have been other such appointments under the radar. Perhaps this comparison is not what you want to be pinned on you.

Undoubtedly your role has been pivotal indeed, and to continue in that role it might be best for you to form a National Council of Students for Democracy and Justice to perform the role of a non-partisan body to safeguard the rule of law, human rights and preservation of democracy; perhaps the Interim government can formalise a role for your voice to be heard. The council needs to be apolitical and free of outside political interference. Carving a personal role unwarranted by qualification or experience inevitably threatens to undermine the sanctity of the movement itself: would you want that to happen? It is neither good for your legacy nor good for the students’ heritage, and certainly undesirable for the nation.

Similarly, your campaign, in its later evolution, asked for transparency, accountability and the rule of law. Let me then ask you: did you all give proof of strict adherence to these principles? There has been widespread vandalism, some destroying iconic structures of historical significance to us, and when you were asked to account for these, you deflected the question by referring to the past government and its fifteen years of autocratic rule: how does that reflect your readiness to be accountable? Deflecting responsibility to the other is a common practice in our political discourse and one of the shields of political corruption: how are you different from any other political party then?

Aug 15, 1975, is a dark day in our history, regardless of whatever political party to which one might belong. The brutal massacre of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family is a tragedy that will remain fresh in our memory as a day drenched in blood. Bangabandhu’s legacy is for all of us to own and protect, not just the Awami League; giving the Awami League a monopoly of ownership of his political ancestry is the doing of all political parties that resorted to tarnishing the image and memory of Bangabandhu as the best way of counteracting the appeal of Awami League---a most unpatriotic choice of a campaign strategy. If you were indeed campaigning with a patriotic spirit, and for justice, how did you let Aug 15 be passed by as nothing but a regular day, denuding it of the status of a “Day of National Mourning”, acquiescing to the interest of a few political parties: did you really uphold justice and our patriotic values by letting this happen under your watch? You cannot put the blame on the past government and walk away saying it is their doing. Student movements have played significant roles in the national history of this country, and always so as standard bearers of the sentinels of idealism and history; this would be the first time that a student campaign stood silent over an unpatriotic and divisive decision over a question that belongs deeply to our national history. It is time that we take steps towards taking collective ownership of all our national heroes and let all political parties compete based on their agenda for national development and growth, and not capitalise on their specific claim of ownership of any of our national heroes.

The third question is about the reversal of court verdicts and the removal of government leaders at the apex of important government bodies. If your campaign was about due process, then how is the nation still in the dark about the reversal of some critical court decisions and removal of appointees at the apex of government bodies? However allegedly wrongful or questionable a court decision, it is always coded as a ruling by reference to articles of the constitution; similarly, a reversal of the ruling needs to follow due process and the ruling in reversal needs to be encoded defensibly by reference to articles of the constitution; to this date, the nation is in the dark about some reported and unreported reversal of court verdicts. There are rumours or news of convicted felons being released. The nation needs to know these as evidence of your commitment to oversee the preservation of transparency and adjudication of proper justice.

We cannot make light of the process of appointing and dismissing the leaders at the apex of government institutions. Just because we feel the past government was arbitrary in its appointment of these leaders, we cannot allow ourselves to act independently of the due process in dismissing these appointees---you marched under the banner of justice and transparency! So, what process was followed in the dishonourable dismissal of these top government officials? You need to publish an uncontroversial white paper that can be defended in a court of law. Short of that, it would appear that this government, under your idealistic watch, is pandering to the narrow political interests of some political parties or individuals, and you served as an accessory to the blatant pursuit of political vengeance.

Dear students, there are few countries in the world with a history where students played significant roles in its evolution as a nation as the students of Bangladesh. You have a rich legacy of patriotism and idealism to uphold and extend. It is our hope that you would be mindful of it and would not sully this rich legacy by stooping to narrow political interests. Please do not succumb to the temptations of forming yourself into a political party while in government; in that you will equate yourself with the questionable legacies of some political parties that emerged in the shadow of coups d’etat while the incumbent was still in the seat of power—by doing so, you will most likely earn the label of a front for a power base that is still in the shadows, and the change will be looked at as a coup d’etat, and not a people’s revolution as you aspire for it to be known.

History is a silent watcher of times; it may be quiet but it never ceases to record each of our actions and form its irrevocable judgement; in time its judgements will coalesce into forces that will unfailingly smoothen the kinks in the trajectory of our history. It is good to remember that we might tiptoe past a seemingly slumbering history for now, but it will be roused at some point in time, and when roused it will be unforgiving and ruthless in uprooting the errant transgressor. And the posterity will be no less unforgiving!

[Farooq Sheikh teaches at the State University of New York at Geneseo, specialising in operations management, business statistics, quantitative methods, and game theory, with a focus on fostering analytical skills and a commitment to lifelong learning.]