Every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ became all-powerful after Aug 5, says Umama

Former Students Against Discrimination movement coordinator Umama Fatema has accused Islami Chhatra Shibir and its allies of co-opting the “spontaneous” July Uprising, allowing people with little connection to previous political struggles to emerge as leaders.

“During the July movement, all student organisations were excluded and people from the Shibir and Chhatra Shakti clique [secret Shibir] were included in the coordinators’ committee,” she wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday night.

“That is why, after Aug 5, every Tom, Dick and Harry came along and became all-powerful.”

Umama made the remarks after Shibir acknowledged that Rajshahi University Central Central Students Council (RUCSU) General Secretary Salahuddin Ammar had previously been a "Sathi", or associate, of the organisation.

“Through the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, people who had not had the slightest connection with 17 years of movements and struggles suddenly appeared and became leaders. Salahuddin Ammar is one of them,” she wrote.

Media reports on Wednesday said the Rajshahi University unit of Chhatra Shibir had revoked Ammar’s “Sathi” status on Sept 11, 2025, over allegations of activities that breached organisational discipline.

The disclosure came after former coordinators announced a panel called “Adhipatya Birodhi Oikya” for the RUCSU election.

At the time, journalists asked whether the group was a “dummy panel” or “shadow group” for Shibir.

Ammar rejected the suggestion.

“I find these remarks unwarranted. I believe Shibir would never form a panel that is not its own,” he said.

“They have announced a separate panel. We have announced ours separately. There is no possibility of this being a ‘dummy’ or ‘shadow group’.”

Shibir disclosed Ammar’s removal from the organisation with about a month remaining in RUCSU's tenure.

Umama, who contested the 2025 DUCSU election as an independent vice-president candidate, said the July movement had been taken captive “the Bhai-brother quorum and Shibir”.

“Those who have been playing games with the country since the movement wanted to take control of everything,” she wrote.

Umama, a former member secretary of the Bangladesh Students’ Federation’s Dhaka University unit, also criticised Jamaat-e-Islami.

Chhatra Shibir is known as Jamaat’s student wing, although Shibir has consistently denied being its affiliate.

“Bangladesh’s journey used to be about the past 50 years. Now, because of Jamaat, history has to start from the British period,” Umama wrote.

“The country’s politics is falling into the hands of a group of hypocrites.

“There is no difference between Jamaat and the Awami League. Jamaat is willing to take the country to any extreme to cover up the stain of its genocide.”

Umama also alleged that social media was being manipulated to destabilise Bangladesh and manufacture political figures for young people to follow.

“I do not view social media content as innocent at all. Facebook manipulation is enough to destabilise Bangladesh, so interest groups behind the scenes periodically use July to generate manufactured consent on social media,” she wrote.

“There are many manufactured figures being presented as heroes among young people, who are working to place the present and future political possibilities of the youth in the hands of particular groups.”

Drawing a comparison with Myanmar, Umama pointed to the role of Facebook in violence against the Rohingya.

“I get scared when I look at Myanmar. Facebook was an extremely effective tool in the Rohingya genocide,” she wrote.

“This has been possible because our middle class went from ‘I hate politics’ to suddenly having its eyes opened in July, while social media manipulation has been used to turn one person into a hero today and someone else into one tomorrow.”