It is not clear whether the ongoing protests against the quota system in the public service is against the government or the court.
A section of students are involved in the anti-quota movement allegedly instigated by the vested quarters who want to create chaos to destabilise the country while most of the general students do not have any idea whether they can take to the streets against a sub-judice matter.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina categorically said quota issue should be settled in the apex court while Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan raised questions about the ongoing students’ movement, demanding the cancellation of the freedom fighters’ quota in government jobs. The Supreme Court and the High Court does not change any verdict after seeing street movement.
The High Court pronounced a verdict regarding the quota system and movement is going on over a sub-judice matter. Therefore, the government cannot say anything about the sub-judice matter.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin has urged the agitating students to have patience, saying they should not take a sub-judice matter to the street.
Thousands of students of different public universities, including Dhaka University, continued their protests, blocking roads in the capital and highways to press home their demand for cancellation of the quota system in government jobs.
However, the protests raised questions about whether the students instigated by some elements waged the movement in a planned way to oust the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government.
Talking to this correspondent, many students said they do not know what is the sub-judice issue but they are taking part in the movement.
The city dwellers suffered immensely as thousands of students put up barricades at key points in the capital, causing heavy traffic congestion that spilled over to nearby roads and allies. The long-distance buses got stranded for hours on different highways, causing sufferings for the passengers.
Some student leaders termed the anti-quota protest a plot to oust the incumbent government.
Tanvir Hasan Shaikat, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) unit of Dhaka University, said some students are protesting against the government.
“As part of conspiracy, they (some protesters) want to destabilise the country by waging movement in the name of cancellation of the quota system. And they are desperate to implement the vested quarters’ agenda using the emotion of general students,” he added.
“The BCL senior leaders told us to refrain from joining the protests as it is a sub-judice matter,” he said.
On the contrary, Hasnat Abdullah, a convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said, “We aren’t protesting against anybody. We are staging demonstration demanding reform of the guota system in government jobs. We want to transform our country into a smart Bangladesh by 2041. So, we want a fair and merit-based system in government jobs.”
Hasnat, however, rejected Shaikat’s remarks saying they are protesting against the quota system in the greater interest of the general students.
“If he wants welfare of the country, he can’t give such a statement. We aren’t against the government. We demand the scrapping of the discriminatory quota system in government jobs,” he said.
Nahid Islam, one of the conveners of the quota movement, said this is not a political movement.
“But some people want to brand our movement a political one. But I would like to say that we don’t have any political agenda. We just are protesting against the indiscrimination of quota in government jobs.”
He also said those who are participating in the protest, do not have political purposes. “They (students) are taking part in the movement against the discriminatory quota system.”
