‘We asked for rights’: Bangladesh on edge as quota protest turns violent Protest

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Maliha Namlah was scared of her date.

He and other scholars were protesting outside the residence of the Jahangirnagar College (JU) vice-chancellor on the outskirts of the national capital. There was an uproar in the campus. Recently, members of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Awami League party, had attacked students.

As I waited on Monday night, Namla and other protesters heard that BCL participants, along with armed outsiders, were once again approaching the VC’s house, and the possibility of another attack loomed. So Namla and her friends are in a hurry to the place of residence in search of safe shelter and protection.

The incident was one of the most unpleasant controversies to hit Bangladesh universities in recent times, as students protested against the recent apex court decision to reinstate the controversial quota system in government jobs.

This quota system was abolished in 2018 following customer protests and its reinstatement has fueled customer anger and frustration among many young Bangladeshis looking for government jobs, who believe that their prospects have been hurt due to the quota. Damage has been done.

The protests escalated dramatically on Sunday evening, with hundreds of scholars across the country retiring from their hostels demanding the early removal of the quota. On Monday, the college campus became a battleground where heavily armed BCL workers clashed with scholars protesting against the quota system. A large number of students were injured.

Namla had a narrow escape during the afternoon, but that evening, she found herself trapped in a small room with the belongings of others in the Vice Chancellor’s residence complex. Scholars allege that BCL workers also threw bricks or petrol bombs at them.

“We thought we wouldn’t get out alive,” Namlah said. “Neither the police nor the university administration came to help us. Eventually, our fellow protesters gathered in large numbers and rescued us, but many of us were seriously injured,” she told Al Jazeera.

Why did the protests increase?

At Dhaka College (DU) in the capital, the epicenter of the quota reform protests, the situation on Monday was more bleak than earlier days.

Wearing helmets and carrying sticks and iron rods, a mob of BCL participants, many of whom were reportedly from outside DU, attacked the protesters on the campus. The scholar was injured and bleeding. “We were marching peacefully on the DU campus, but suddenly Chhatra League workers attacked us with sticks and even knives,” a female DU student told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. ”

A group of Awami League supporters also stormed the extreme wing of the Dhaka Clinical School Hospital at night, where injured students were receiving treatment. The attack caused panic among doctors, nurses, patients and visitors, and disrupted scientific services at the country’s renowned scientific facility.

On the other hand, BCL president Saddam Hussein insisted that the scholar community had been incited.

“Those who openly identify as ‘Razakars’ will have to face consequences. There is no place in this country for such persons, and we have decided to politically confront the students protesting against the quota reforms,” Hussain said during a media briefing on Monday.

Hussain was involved in a late-night protest on Sunday, where students were raising slogans in Bengali, meaning “Who are you?” Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!” and “We asked for rights, but we were declared Razakars”.

Earlier on Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also mentioned the Razakars, an ally of the Pakistan Army in 1971, when more than 30 lakh people were killed and millions displaced during the establishment of India, including . Bangladesh.

“If grandchildren of freedom fighters do not get quota benefits, should grandchildren of Razakars get it?” Haseena said.

Hasina’s statement angered the protesting scholars and process seekers, who were protesting against the 30% quota reserved for community participants from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War of Autonomous India. They believe this quota unfairly limits their options and doubt the accuracy of the beneficiary checklist.

Explaining the scholars’ reaction, protesters’ spokesperson Naheed Islam clarified that they were being sarcastic after raising the Razakar slogan, in an immediate reaction to the Prime Minister’s remarks.

However the Bangladesh government has questioned that explanation. Minister of State for Information Mohammad Arafat told Al Jazeera that as of Monday, neither the Awami League nor the BCL had attempted to confront the student protesters.

“Students are identifying themselves as Razakars” who instigated them, he said, adding that BCL participants were also injured in the campus clashes.

fixed quota, denied quota, fixed quota

But Asif Nazrul, a law school master at Dhaka College, told Al Jazeera that the message the students wanted to convey through their slogans was unclear. He commented, “I doubt that any student at Dhaka University would identify himself as a Razakar.”

Nazrul also criticized the federal government’s response, suggesting that they were eager to stop the ongoing protests and had found a convenient excuse to do so.

The quota system in government jobs was initially introduced to ensure representation and inclusion. Established in 1972 for autonomy opponents, the quota system was discontinued but reinstated in 1996.

Recently, 56 percent of government jobs are reserved for specific groups, with the largest percentage of 30 percent for descendants of autonomy opponents, women, minorities and people from backward districts on socio-economic indices.

The program has long been criticized for leaving out alternative qualified applicants and retirement positions if designated applicants fail the recruitment test.

In 2018, amid the previous round of quota reform protests, Prime Minister Hasina swiftly abolished the quota in family provider recruitment to quell unrest.

On the other hand, this option was complained of ignoring ancient injustices and marginalizing some teams. Recently, the Supreme Court decided to give priority to dependents of autonomy opponents, arguing that removing the quota violated their rights established in a prior court decision.

Law graduate and activist Syed Abdullah told Al Jazeera that the students had misconceptions about their demands. “The protesting students are not pushing for complete abolition of the quota; Rather, they are advocating for a fair percentage of quotas for historically disadvantaged communities, he said.