Thorn in Hasina's crown
PRIME Minister Sheikh Hasina has been gaining laurels for upholding crucial global issues in the world's forum with creative suggestions while addressing core issues. She is now in the global limelight for playing a big part in the 64th UN General Assembly (UNGA), putting an end to the country's negative impression.
While addressing the UNGA, Sheikh Hasina touched all the keynotes of the crucial global issues, including the impact of economic meltdown and global warming, food security and world peace. She also raised issues related to Bangladesh very strongly and effectively through her statements at a series of discussions with other world leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
Sheikh Hasina's address at UNGA bears special significance as it outlined the woes and problems of the developing countries, including Bangladesh and called for joint global efforts to address the grave crisis faced by the poor nations.
Both US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon appreciated her for strongly presenting the global warming and UN peacekeeping issues.
The Far Eastern Economic Review in its current issue also lauded Sheikh Hasina's attitude, as she stated that experience had made her more desperate and determined to work for the people. She said this to an interviewer of the international fortnightly on the sideline of the session.
While Hasina was engaged in enhancing the country's image abroad, playing a pivotal role on the world's stage, the student wing of the Awami League (AL), that has been involved in all sorts of crimes from tender manipulation to raping girls, has tarnished the image of the ruling party.
The martial mastery of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists, in order to establish their control over the campuses, forcefully closed over a dozen educational institutions including four public universities where they manifested their ugliest muscle flexing, deeply annoying a lot people.
The BCL leaders have also started taking control of tender related activities in various government offices ever since the AL-led grand alliance was elected to power, creating a reign of terror across the country.
A band of 10 BCL activists, who kidnapped and raped a teenage girl at Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali, were given only token punishment at the village arbitration that was arranged by the local AL leaders to ensure their escape. The victim's family, and not the rapists, is on the run because of the fear of reprisal from the perpetrators since the police remained inactive against the rapists.
Only a few days back, another BCL leader at Pirojpur lured a class 10 student to a love trap, raped her and recorded it in a cell phone. The video footage reached local youth through cell phones, flash drives and CDs, which were on sale in video stores. The involvement of BCL activists in such heinous crimes put not only the AL but also the whole nation to shame.
Sheikh Hasina, however, expressed her determination to deal strictly with the rampaging youth front of her party, and instructed the organisng secretaries of the party to strictly monitor the activities of the youth fronts and recommend actions to the party hierarchy.
The people of Bangladesh feel really proud when the TV footage shows their prime minister addressing the UN session or sitting beside the US president. Yet, they feel quite disheartened when they see the young activists of the ruling party getting involved in all sorts of criminal activities.
The BCL activists, at least a huge number of them, have already done enough to tarnish the image of the government. Their unlawful activities became so unbearable that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chose to resign from the post of BCL's organisational chief in order to isolate herself from them. These unruly elements are, in fact, thorns in Hasina's crown.
Sadly, the BCL today is poles apart from its idealistic pursuits, which once had played a key role in the country's liberation movement. Not only that, its hardcore members, motivated by greed for wealth, are now involved in all sorts of crimes.
Therefore, there is a need for the prime minister to give a serious thought about student politics, which has not only become devoid of idealism but has also become rotten to the core.
Students on rampage is a sign of old-fashioned politics, and not in keeping up with the promise of change that had propelled the AL-led alliance to power.
The time is ripe for taking some effective measures to rein in the unruly elements of BCL before they do irreparable harm to the government's image. The government should also strive to determine the forces that are driving them to violence and criminality. At the same time, it should lead the campaign to free student politics from the clutches of the gangsters who go by the name of students.
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