This sin is ours

Youth is a potent force. We place all our enthusiasm and aspirations in the power of youth. When the mahajote saw landslide victory in the 2008 elections, the general view was that the young generation had swept the alliance to power, imbued with the spirit of the liberation war. During the early days of Ganojagoran Mancho, youth stood sternly opposed to crimes against humanity. But it didn’t take long to realise that youth was not incorruptible.

A section of youth was very much a part of the pre- and post-election violence in 2014. Clad in jeans and T-shirts, cell phone in hand, these young men smashed cars, set fire to vehicles and beat up police. There are the young men with machetes, lurking around in the shadows.

On one hand we have youth winning awards and fame on an international level. On the other, we have youth slaughtering people with cruel precision.

Then there is the student organisation Chhatra League frequently grabbing the headlines. They indulge in violence and bloodshed in a battle for power. We have come all too used to news of their internal fights, killing and wounding each other to take control of halls, and their other power struggles.

When Biswajit was killed by a group of young men in Old Dhaka, it seemed as if the assailants were not human, they were cold robots. It was a rowdy group of Chhatra League that committed the murder, though he had not been their target. BNP had a rally scheduled for that day. The Chhatra League goons thought he was a BNP wallah and so he was not spared. Later it was discovered he was a hapless tailor, not involved in politics at all. But even if he was of the rival party, why should he be killed thus in cold blood?

A person armed with a machete is invariably taken to be a religious bigot, a fanatic. But is that so? When Chhatra League or Chhatra Dal boys fight, they too have knives, machetes and daggers. Pistols too. Pictures of them brandishing the weapons appear in the dailies, but no action is taken against them. With so many of them being released on presidential pardon, faith in the judicial system is on the wane. The president has the authority to pardon the criminals, but is he not the president of the victims too?

It is often said that the youth are victims of circumstance. The prime minister asks why the youth are given firearms, they should be carrying books. This was a barb at the four-party alliance youth cadres at the time. But then, who is arming the Chhatra League and Jubo League activists? One can’t get a room in the university halls unless you curry favour with the ruling party-backed Chhatra League. Student leaders and workers of the opposition can’t even enter the halls.

On 3 February 2001, president Shahabuddin Ahmed was speaking at the Dhaka University convocation. He said that violence would end if the student organisations were not affiliated with political parties. His words fell on deaf ears.

During the Ayub-Monem days, the pro-government student activists would use hockey sticks and knives to fight. Post-independence saw the hockey sticks and knives replaced with firearms. In early 1974, seven young men were killed in Mohsin Hall during internal clashes of Chhatra League. Chhatra League general secretary at the time, Shafiul Alam Prodhan, was the main accused in this case. He was arrested, but only tried when Khandkar Mushtaque came to power. He was given a 14-year prison sentence, but was released during Ziaur Rahman’s rule. He is now a leader in the 20-party alliance of Khaleda Zia. He often spews out rhetoric for the sovereignty of the country, for the rule of law.

Over the past four decades or so, a section of youth has gone completely astray. Their books have been replaced by guns. But they are mere pawns, foot soldiers. The actual villains remain hidden in their pristine panjabis or carefully creased safari suits. The media sometimes points to these ‘big brothers’, but they slip easily through the loopholes of the law.

And now there is hue and cry all around. The youth must be brought back to the right path. There is much talk about motivation. But who will do the job? The politicians who talk big, have all sent their children to live abroad. Their children are not involved in politics. They get the children of others to do the dirty work in the political field. Then, when the time is right, they bring their offspring back to the country and comfortably seat them in the parliament. It’s like a replay race, the baton being passed down the generations. Dynastic politics is well lodged in the major political parties.

In general, youth is idealistic. They have rebellion in their blood. They are anti-establishment. That is why the political parties make sure student council elections are not held. They know very well, pro-government student organisations will face dismal defeat in any such election.

Democracy got a fresh start in 1991 and BNP remained in power for a stretch of 10 years. They never held the Dhaka University Central Student Union (DUCSU) elections. Awami League has been in power for over 13 years in three terms. They too held off the DUCSU polls. Since 1970, Chhatra League has never won the DUCSU election. They only got a few seats in 1989 as part of a greater alliance. And so the government is not going to risk defeat.

The inevitable has occurred. The student bodies never get the chance to nurture a democratic culture or build a constructive leadership. One group of students are involved in fights and  struggles for government tender contracts. The other group simply shuns politics.

The old politicians grow older, with no new faces to challenge their leadership. Their seats in parliament are being inherited by their offspring. Former ministers’ children are being made ministers. The young foot soldiers are used to guard their bastions of power.

We say with great relish, the youth is the future of the country. But we are not creating conducive circumstances for their merit and talent to flourish. We use them as stairs to clamber to power, then fling them aside once our purposes are served. These youth then turn astray.

Other big brothers are there to pick them up, hand them arms and ammunition, brainwashing them with cold calculation.

We are pushing the youth to the brink of destruction. This sin is ours. How much longer can the political blame game continue?