CHARGES of drug trafficking have been levied against the top 11 leaders of the Chhatra League from within the organization, claimed a report of a local daily. The report also stated that other leaders were involved in the illegal trade. Education, Peace and Progress are the main aims of the organization. But apparently Khulna city, district, and upazila level leaders are also apparently involved in drug trafficking, contracting, extortion, robbery and looting, claimed the report.
The report claimed that after talking with different leaders and staff of the organization at different levels it found that conflicts existed at every level of the organization. Hence there was no discipline. Besides, one faction had brought allegations of drug trade and illegal arms dealing against the other faction, headed by City Unit President Dev Dulal and General Secretary Shahjalal Shujon. The central committee of Bangladesh Chhatra League on Sunday suspended all activities of its Khulna city unit with effect from Monday until further orders due to the fierce clash between two rival groups of BCL on February 22 on the campus of Government Azam Khan Commerce College that left 12 persons severely injured.
Both the fierce infighting and rival factions’ allegations against each other are part of a wider malaise in our body politic. Most students who aspire to be student leaders have the mentality which only thinks of political power as a stepping stone for their own glory, benefits and as a source which would enable them to earn an enormous amount of illegal income. They care neither for education, nor for the welfare of students, nor about the party to which they belong. Their main interest is in amassing wealth by any means while paying lip service to the ideals to which the group to which they belong aspire to. They believe that power can and will supersede anything, including the law of the land and only take their oaths of allegiance to their political patrons seriously.
All this is nothing new. The lust for power has been ripping away like a cancerous sore in our student bodies for over a generation. The old student leaders who fought for independence and freedom are no more there to enable the youth of this generation to think that things like civic betterment and a more ideal society are ideals one should aspire to. Both as a nation and as individuals we are chaotic and articulate. It is time our political leaders thought about the fact that the leaders of the next generation—our students—should be freed from the dangerous ties which bind them to politics. Students must above all be students-politics should no longer be an option for them.
