Editorial
Prime Minister's warning to BCL and Jubo League
It must be followed up by purposeful action
PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina has warned activists of the Chhatra League that any extortion and tender manipulation on their part will not be tolerated. Her sentiments are surely understandable, given that despite her earlier warnings to this effect in recent times elements of the Chhatra League as also the Jubo League have indulged in activities that leave citizens perturbed. Indeed, reports of BCL activists interfering in tender submissions and college and university admissions have now combined with allegations of harassment of people. Unfortunately, the authorities have been unwilling or unable to take any action against them. Only the other day, a Chhatra League worker humiliated a married female student of Jagannath University in full public view, with the police watching it all as mute spectators.
The bigger point here, however, is that admonition must now give way to action on the part of the government. We have said before and we say it again that if these unruly elements of the BCL are not dealt with severely, the public reaction will not necessarily be a favourable one for the ruling party. Indeed, as the prime minister herself has stated, their misdemeanours will leave the credibility and the good work done by the government dented. We therefore would like the prime minister to know that it is time she made sure the law was applied equally to all those who try to break it, irrespective of party affiliations.
Sheikh Hasina has voiced the concern that individuals who in earlier times played a part in harassing the Awami League and its front organizations have now infiltrated them. The question here is one of how they managed to do that. There are, in politics, always a large number of opportunists or turncoats ready to cause problems for those in power. Even so, if such people have indeed entered the AL and its associated bodies, one would like to know how they did so when every political party has a clearly defined system that vets individuals before they can become its members. In the case of these alleged infiltrators in the AL, it is clear the blame must lie with the party leadership.
The prime minister's assertion that the Chhatra League cannot be led by individuals who cannot be called students any more is a hint of how student politics may have become captive in the hands of what she calls 'uncles'. The statement is in itself a warning that unless such bodies as the Chhatra League are led back to the old idealism which marked their coming into existence, student politics will continue to be on a slide. And that will mean the sort of unruly behaviour citizens have seen coming from BCL activists in these past many months. One does not have to tolerate such behaviour, as the prime minister has explicitly stated, or expect that it will end through a mere sounding of warnings. Only an application of the law can have a salutary effect on such behaviour.
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