RPO defied as parent parties run BCL, JCD
The Representation of the People Order clearly states that no student organisation can be an associate body of a political party, but Chhatra League and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal are still being run as the associate bodies of the Awami League and the BNP.
On September 11, JCD announced the formation of the fully-fledged and partial committees of its central and Dhaka University units. Circulars issued in this regard were signed by BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. Previously, all committees of the student front were announced using the official letterhead of the opposition party.
The AL dropped the name of Chhatra League from the list its associate bodies, but almost all major decisions of the student organisation, including holding of the central council, formation of its central executive committee, are made by senior leaders of the AL.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the AL president, is the organisational chief of BCL. She picked the president and general secretary of the student front's central committee in the last council in 2018.
Hasina also tasked four senior party leaders with "looking after" BCL, party insiders said.
The AL and BCL leaders introduce the student front as a pro-AL students' organisation.
As per the section 90 (B)(iii) of the RPO, [for a political party] keeping any organisation or body of teachers or students of any educational institution or of the employees or labourers of any financial, commercial or industrial institution or establishment or the members of any other profession as an affiliated or associated body of a political party is prohibited.
Political analysts say that such practices by the two major political parties clearly violate the RPO. Student organisations are called as sister organisations, associate bodies or pro-party organisations but their mother organisations are at the helm.
This leads to undemocratic practices inside the organisations and most of the them cannot even elect their leadership following their charters. The constitutions of both BCL and JCD mandates that the leadership be elected through voting by members.
The parent party uses a student organisation to establish supremacy at different educational institutions, particularly in public universities. Experts blame such control of parent organisation for ruining the congenial atmosphere in educational institutions.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Professor Tanzimuddin Khan of Dhaka University's international relations department said, the AL and BNP control the students' organisations by abusing power to suppress dissenting views.
"Political parties are supposed to let the student organisations run on their own and thus support growth of political leadership. But as Chhatra League and Chhatra Dal are being operated by two main political parties, political leadership is not growing independently. The parties want to establish their supremacy on the campus. As a result, the general students become victims of torture by them [BCL-JCD]."
However, the left leaning student organisations are apparently free from such direct intervention from political parties and so they can elect their leadership mostly in a democratic manner, say experts.
Contacted, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Rizvi said, "Chhatra Dal has been kept as an associate organisation in our charter and it was approved by the Election Commission. Formation of the Chhatra Dal's committee was announced through the BNP's press release with the consent of its supreme guardian Tarique Rahman."
Denying the allegation of controlling the student front to ensure dominance in educational institutions, he said the BNP had formed Chhatra Dal to develop new leadership through student politics. "Other political parties are also running student organisations in the same way."
AL Organising Secretary BM Mozammel Haque said party President Sheikh Hasina was made the organisational chief in the charter of Chhatra League and so she can take decisions regarding the student body.