NEWS reports said that ruling party’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) has demanded permission to open their unit and start activities at all private universities for what they say curving militant activities among students. It is known to all that BCL has destabilized all public universities where their muscle flexing and criminal activities made academic activities worst victims. The most worrying fact is that students who may have opinion that differ from the ruling party dominated student front may have difficulty to stay and run studies peacefully. It will essentially turn the private university campuses into battlegrounds of rival parties with physical safety of many at stake. Private universities have therefore denied such permission, although students rightly deserve constructive platform to express their views and join in creative activities for their career building.
The demand for opening ruling party students wing at all private universities to fight militancy has made us quite worried. The logic behind BCL’s stance is strange and daft. It is too simplistic that such move will mitigate the rise of militancy. It may rather begin the destruction of private universities’ academic atmosphere. We know one of the attackers in Gulshan Café was from a Bogra government college where ruling party students wing was very much at work. If their argument is true, he should not have become a terrorist. Another terrorist was son of a leader of city unit of Awami League and how he could grow in such a family is the question. In fact BCL is using a wrong policy to mislead the government and such policy would end up destroying peaceful teaching environment at all private universities.
We must say none of the private universities is grooming militants intentionally. Even if some students from some top private universities have become militants, how universities can control them when they stay only 20 to 30 hours in the campuses in a week. It is the families, which should keep watch, and on top the government, which should make sure the peaceful environment that, does not create militants. Students are sensitive; they want open space and environment for creative work. Where it is absent, local and international vested interest groups may come to exploit them and make their recruit.
For many years there had not been any problem with the private universities where students attended classes and parents were happy that there would not be any academic year loss because of violent student politics, which is noticeable in public universities. Parents’ spend huge money in private universities and they want that their wards would pass out in time. So having BCL presence on campus is not desirable by any means. We believe that the government will not allow such intervention that risk harming academic atmosphere badly.
