Protests against the freedom fighter quota, having been sparked since the High Court judgement which declared the annulment of the 30 per cent quota illegal earlier this month, escalated on Sunday night. The government has declared a nation-wide curfew, the internet has been cut-off and the casualties stand at 105 currently. Professors at several universities across Bangladesh, mobilising the student protest groups, have called for fresh protests.
Up until 2018, the quotas maintained by the Bangladeshi government for its civil service jobs included the infamous freedom fighter quota, standing at 30 per cent. This quota reserved the seats of civil service posts for the children and grandchildren of the freedom fighters of the nation. Coupled with the other quotas, only 46 per cent of the jobs were left that could be contested on the basis of merit. In 2018, protests against the quotas rose and were subsequently quelled promptly by the government, which later decided to scrap all quotas, except the quota reserving seats for the freedom fighters’ posterity. A verdict regarding this was passed on July 7 by the High Court which declared the move as illegal.
In Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s address on July 14 to the protesting students, she has been recorded saying, “Why are the freedom fighters so resented by them? If the grandchildren of freedom fighters do not get jobs, do they encourage the razakars to get them? This is what I ask the nation.” The term razakar, a pejorative euphemism denoting conspirators against the nation during the Bangladeshi Liberation Movement of 1971, struck a grisly chord with the students who interpreted her address as an oblique comparison of the student protestors with razakars. They organised rallies, chanting “Tumi ke, ami ke, razakar, razakar” (Who are you, who am I, razakar, razakar), allegedly mocking the PM’s address.
The Bangladesh Chhatra League (Bangladesh Student League), the youth wing of the ruling party, alongside the police, attacked the protestors on July 5, leading to a bloodbath in public and private universities across the country. The government has announced its decision to deploy military forces, to curb the protests. No communication has been received from the ground on account of the nation-wide internet shut down. 105 people have died in midst of the protests and over 2500 have been injured so far. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the primary opposition party, has joined hands with the protestors and claims to support their cause. On Friday, the police launched tear gas on the BNP protesters and arrested the party leader, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. The Indian Railways has cancelled trains to Bangladesh. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal claims that around 15,000 Indians including 8,500 students, are residing there. He further reports that they are all safe. Of the aforestated number, 450 students have been evacuated so far and returned via Agartala. Imtiaz Ahmed, former professor of Dhaka University’s political science department opines, “Hasina should have called for conference with the students instead of unleashing her trigger-happy police if she wanted to handle the situation better.”
As the country continues to grapple with intense protests and student casualties keep mounting, a burgeoning consensus against Hasina’s government condemns her methods – for being “autocratic”. “The public, alongside the cumulative effect of Hasina’s four-term anti-incumbency, also resents her autocratic way of handling dissent,” remarks former Bangladeshi diplomat and president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Humayun Kabir.
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Featured Image Credits : Cubangla Instagram Page
Aayudh Pramanik
Shikhar Pathak
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