Editorial
Elders lead JCD
Not a comforting thought for student leadership
THE sad truth of the matter is that the central committee of Jatiyotabadi Chatra Dal (JCD), the students' wing of the main opposition party BNP, is led essentially aging students. Going by newspaper reports on April 15, it is learnt that the BNP Chairperson has approved a new body with 291 members. Of this inflated number, more than half are married individuals who are not students but business people of various shades and hues. This, of course, is a major departure from the constitution of the JCD that states that the central body should be composed of 101 members.
The story does not end there. It is interesting to note that nearly 40 of these "leaders" have managed to keep their enrolment in various educational institutions that have dubious credentials. Then, of course, we have a handsome number of vice-presidents with ages averaging 40 or so. Looking at it from another angle, many of these senior men severed their links with education over a decade ago. Yet, they manage to remain "students for life" and hence invariably find a way to retain their positions in the students' body.
The argument for such a huge committee is that JCD has, over the years, fragmented into several factions that have rendered the body ineffective to lead agitation programmes on the streets. It is little wonder that such violation of the constitution has lead to mass dissatisfaction at the field level. Party activists at the grassroots naturally prefer bona fide students to lead the central committee. Such gross violation of rules has neither helped JCD to become a more cohesive political force, nor has it worked in favour of bridging the gap between the central committee and the grassroots.
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