Why did Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Federation, and Chhatra Front boycott the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement‍‍`s meeting?

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement became well-known across the country for its role in fighting against government job quotas and leading the popular uprising against the Sheikh Hasina government. 

The movement gained support from many student organizations, especially after Sheikh Hasina left the country on August 5. 

Since then, whenever the movement’s leaders called for action, other student groups responded.

But for the first time, some major student groups, including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (BNP’s student wing) and several left-wing student groups, chose not to attend a meeting called by Hasnat Abdullah, one of the main leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, who had also played a key role in the July uprising.

This took place on the night of Wednesday, November 27. 

The day before, on Tuesday night, Hasnat Abdullah and other top leaders of the movement met with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the principal advisor of the interim government.

Before the meeting, the chief advisor’s press secretary, Shafiqul Islam, told reporters that Yunus planned to meet with various groups to discuss national unity, starting with student leaders. He also mentioned that after the meeting with students, the chief advisor would meet with political and religious leaders.

After the meeting, Hasnat Abdullah and several other movement leaders spoke to the media at Jamuna Gate. Following the July Uprising, four senior leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement were given important roles in the interim government’s advisory council. 

These included Nahid Islam at the Ministry of Information, Asif Mahmud at the Ministry of Local Government, and Mahfuz Alam, who initially served as a special assistant to the chief advisor and is now an advisor without a portfolio.

Hasnat Abdullah told reporters, “The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement is working as the vanguard of the July popular uprising.” Another leader, Abdul Hannan Masud, said, “The unity we formed before August 5 is still strong.”

However, the meeting with the principal advisor was not well-received by several mainstream student organizations like Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Federation, and Chhatra Front, who had previously been working together with the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. 

They also decided to skip a follow-up meeting at the movement’s new office at Rupayan Tower on Wednesday, even though they had attended a similar meeting led by Hasnat Abdullah just the week before.

It was later revealed that the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had called the meeting on Wednesday night as part of a series of discussions following ‘National Student Unity Week.’ 

Several student organizations linked to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islamic Movement of Bangladesh participated. However, major political groups, including the BNP and several left-wing student organizations, were absent.

The student groups that did not attend the meeting explained that the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had not kept its promise to work towards national unity. 

Because of this, they chose to stay away from the event.

Nasir Uddin Nasir, General Secretary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, told Ajker Patrika newspaper, “The interim government has promised to involve students in various reforms and initiatives related to martyrs and other causes. 

But we’ve seen that only one specific group is being included, and no discussions are happening with other organizations.” He added, “On Tuesday, the principal advisor met only with a few coordinators, which goes against the promise of an inclusive national unity following the July-August uprising. Now, this effort has become confined to a narrow group.”

Nasir also stated that a new approach was needed to ensure real unity among students.

Salman Siddiqui, central president of the Socialist Students’ Front, said, “The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had promised on August 12 to hold discussions with all student organizations and make democratic decisions based on everyone’s input. 

But now, we see that they have strayed from this promise and are making undemocratic decisions, excluding other groups. This is damaging national unity, and they can’t avoid responsibility for it.”

Sykat Arif, General Secretary of the Chhatra Federation (Ganasanghati), added, “Last week, we called for the formation of a National Student Council that would include all student organizations, and most of the groups present supported this idea. This would have ensured proper representation of students. But by focusing on their own interests, they have pushed other organizations aside.”

He continued, “We believe they haven’t shown the maturity needed to keep unity alive, which is why we chose not to attend today’s meeting.”

Later, after the meeting ended at 10 PM, Hasnat Abdullah told reporters that they hoped to begin elections for all student unions, including Dhaka University’s DUCSU, by the end of January or early February.

“We want the student union elections to happen before the national elections,” he said.

Abdul Hannan Masud also mentioned that 30 student organizations had attended the meeting on Wednesday evening.