DU syndrome: Save their souls

In Bangladesh, road accidents rarely ride on reasoning -- neither in actions nor in reactions. Wherever such accidents tend to take place, people become riotous, burn vehicles, damage nearby establishments, and pelt the police. In fact these are very much known post-accident happenings. They are driven more by emotions than rational choices.

It is, therefore, not surprising that fellow students of DU would take to the streets in protest against the killing of their friend. Quite expectedly, they burnt vehicles and bedeviled normal activities. Might be that they also pelted the police standing nearby. Unfortunately, our law enforcing agencies fail to realize the emotions from which such occurrences originate. Instead of going for tolerance, they tried to contain emotions by barbaric encounters. Therefore, to chase the agitating students, police reportedly stormed into the Institute of Fine Arts and beat up female and male students. Thus, fuel was added to the already existing flame.

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And that sparked off further violence. After all, police forces can never enter into the campus premises without due permission from the authority concerned. Even if they are permitted to stay in the campus to enable a peaceful environment, as we often experience it, they should never be allowed to beat up the students entering the classrooms, dormitories, or faculty building. I presume that police forces have done it on their own. If my supposition is correct, then the VC should have resigned immediately in protest against the heinous hoodlums heralded against his community by the police. Given the experience of the outcome of police actions inside Shamsunnahar Hall just a few years back, I am shocked to learn that the authority could allow things like that to happen.

But the seeds of discontent lie elsewhere also. Quite obviously, students and teachers of the university have the right to know as to who permitted such atrocities to take place. The students gheraoed (besieged) the VC in protest against police atrocities inside the campus. VCs are always subject to gheraoes in situation like this. Mr. Sattayendra Nath Sen, a former VC of Kolkata University had to face such a fate at least 30 times during his 8-year tenure. He was wittily called "besieged VC." In our country also, many VCs had to be in such a situation for days and nights. But for "fortunate" Mr. Faiz, it was less than two hours till he phoned Jatiyotabadi Chatro Dal (JCD) cadres to rescue him.

As we could see from the pictures shown in TV networks and newspapers, the rescue operation was prompt but painful. Cadres used lethal weapons and beat up male and female students to the satisfaction of their political masters. I am told that such kind of atrocious behaviour on the part of cadres is used as testimonial or certificate in their search for higher position in the party. You want to be president or secretary of the front organization? Well, submit photos or newspaper reports with guns in your hand. A middle-ranking leader? Well, show us pictures with hockey sticks. If nothing else, at least a picture that shows that you are dragging a female student with your hands on her hair. The ultimate positions in the party determine their economic positions in the future. Not surprisingly, therefore, the president or secretary of the ruling party becomes the owner of a NAM flat or a plot in precious areas overnight. I am not even talking about the millions of cash taka at their disposal. It is thus not ethics but economics that drive the leaders and their cadres to such atrocities. If that call comes from the top, the rampage reaches a peak.

Mr. Faiz was rescued but his institution is reeling under riots. A reign of terrorism rules the campus. For three consecutive days, JCD men created a reign of havoc driving out general students. The opposition backed students had to leave the campus. Even today (June 3), pictures show how JCD cadres are sitting with check posts to guard against the entry of students from another organization.

As usual, the university authority set up an enquiry committee. But the enquiry committee formed to investigate the matters soon fell flat with the resignation of three members. The earlier enquiry committee reports never saw the light of day. Had actions been taken as per the reports, I am hopeful, things would not have been so sordid. I fail to under stand why VCs do not apply their special powers to expel criminals instantly in such a case. After all, pictures in newspapers help identify the criminals at the very outset. Suspicion can only loom large if they are outsiders in which case problems of identification might creep in.

And that is what it should be. A VC may have political links, and obviously with the party in power, but it is also true that he is a teacher with some ethics and morality. As a teacher worth his salt, he cannot entertain criminal activities to draw a certificate of faithfulness from the party he supports. If VCs tend to remain as a "pure" government or party servant to patronize the goons and the guns on campus, I am afraid, public universities might have to face fatal consequences. They are already in the grip of grievous politics on campus and showing signs of sickness in academic pursuits. The soul of the nation comes mostly from places like universities. These institutions need to be more open, accountable, and transparent.

In a country where major positions of student fronts are captured by money-men and musclemen, the campus can hardly claim a wind of calmness. The government should see that its student organization is run by students only. It should help the university authorities to save their souls from the atrocities of their party cadres. It means, inter alia, the university authorities should not be used as pawns of power politics. History shows that such a tactic is a negative sum game where a particular party gains in the short-run but the nation as a whole loses in the long run. The sooner we realize this, the better it is for the nation.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahamgirnagar University.