Magura BCL activists confine new president, beat organising secy in protest

Contractor Mainul Islam Polash is president of the new 107-member committee with 70 non-students, announced on Thursday.

Babul Hossain Babu, the new general secretary is a businessman, who could not even pass Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination, sources in the party said.

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Most of the members of the new committee are "unemployed vagabonds", they said.

The committee was approved on October 6 by Liakat Shikder and Nazml Islam Babu, president and general secretary respectively of the BCL central committee, who on several occasions earlier said non-students have no place in BCL (Bangladesh Chhatra League), they said.

Inclusion of a large number of non-students in the committee has evoked a sharp reaction from the BCL activists, the sources said.

On Friday, the angry activists swooped on of Mainul's residence and kept him locked inside for several hours.

They also beat Ziaul Huq Zia, one of the five organising secretaries and a close associate of general secretary Balul Hossain Babu.

Many mid-level leaders and workers this correspondent talked to expressed their anger and frustration.

"There is no need to make any comment while about 70 non-students and married persons have been placed in the leadership," one activist said seeking anonymity

At the top in the hierarchy, nine of the 13 vice-presidents, three of the five organising secretaries, four of the six joint secretaries are non-students. Among the members, at least 38 are non-students, the sources said.