BCL leaders to be elected, not selected

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the new leadership of Bangladesh Chhatra League would be chosen through the votes of councillors, not through selection.

 "No one will select the leadership; the councillors will elect their future leaders, whoever they want," she said on the inaugural day of the two-day 28th council of the student body.

The leadership will come through voting with transparent ballot boxes that was introduced by this organisation first in the country, she said.

Hasina, also president of the Awami League which backs BCL, said the age limit for the leaders would be 29 this time instead of 27 because of a two-year delay in holding the council.

The council could not take place at the right time due to the movements of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami to foil the election, starting in 2013, she said.

Their demonstrations lasted for one year and three months and there was no environment to hold the BCL council, she added.

The prime minister urged the councillors to choose educated and meritorious students as leaders to help the country make progress.

 "Leadership with lack of education does not have farsightedness, aim and vision. So Chhatra League has to remember that study should always come first. You have to elect those who are meritorious, regular students and attentive in study," she said.

The voting will take place at the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan today. The new leaders would be elected for two years till the next council.

Referring to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the PM said uneducated and aimless leadership could give nothing to the country rather than creating anarchy and misrule, resorting to bombing, terrorism and militancy, and corruption.

Hasina asked the BCL men to grow up with the ideal of education, peace and prosperity which is BCL's slogan.

The PM said student politics would have to be based on ideals.

Terming BCL as the oldest traditional organisation of this subcontinent, she cautioned that the image of this organisation should not be tarnished in any way.

She said BCL and other AL associated bodies' activists and leaders played a role to protect the lives and properties of the people along side the law enforcers during BNP-Jamaat's movements from January to March this year.

Highlighting different successes of her present government, Hasina said due to the far-sighted foreign policy taken by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, her government had been able to settle longstanding maritime demarcation cases with India and Myanmar and implement the Land Boundary Agreement signed in 1974.

She said her government was marching ahead facing conspiracies at home and abroad and expressed her strong belief that the main power lies in her honesty and principles.

Earlier in the morning, Hasina hoisted the national flag when the national anthem played and the BCL president hoisted the organisation's flag.

She inaugurated the council by releasing pigeons and balloons.

BCL President HM Badiuzzaman Sohag chaired the council, which was addressed by Commerce Minister and former BCL president Tofail Ahmed, AL General Secretary and Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam and Road Transport and Bridges Minister and former BCL president Obaidul Quader and BCL General Secretary Siddiqui Nazmul Alam.