A student movement similar to that in 2024 was organized by the students to reform the quota system at all levels of government jobs in 2018, and managed to draw the government’s attention. The then Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina eventually abolished the quota system for government jobs by exercising her executive powers issuing an official circular. But that revocation was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The Bangladeshi Constitution does not have provision of quota for the freedom fighters and their descendants. Section 29 (1) of the Bangladeshi Constitution ensures “equality of opportunity for all citizens in respect of employment or office in the service of the Republic.” The Bangladeshi Constitution, on the other hand, mentions that the backward people shall get the quota to join government jobs. “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from (a) making special provision in favor of any backward section of citizens to secure their adequate representation in the service of the Republic,” states section 29 (3a) of the Constitution.
The Bangladeshi High Court citing that provision on June 5, 2024, restored the 30% quota in civil service posts for the Bangladeshi freedom fighters, their sons and daughters, and their grandchildren. The order, however, was not in accordance with the spirit of Constitution and the people’s will. University students started an online campaign against the verdict and protesters remarked that the movement was “another 2018.”
The first turning point for the movement against quota system arrived on July 10, 2024. On that day, students of Dhaka University with support of Jagannath University and other students of Dhaka organized a peaceful protest and blocked the Shahbagh intersection. The police and other law enforcement agencies tolerated the protesters. In many cases, they helped the protesters unofficially organize this protest because it represented the wishes of the general public. The descendants of those in the police and other law enforcement agencies also stood to get the same benefits as the protesters were they to succeed. In the afternoon, the High Court issued a status quo ante order preventing implementation of the previous verdict for four weeks.
Additionally, the chief justice of the Bangladeshi High Court requested the protesters to go back. But this status quo did not calm down the protesters. The students ignored the chief justice's request. The protests and the blockades continued. The students' protests ultimately turned into a mass movement because the general public including the uneducated rickshaw-pullers and laborers supported and participated in this movement. School and college students and their parents joined the university students.
This was the first time in history that the student wing of the ruling Awami League, Bangladesh Chhatra League, silently observed the movement and allowed protest on university campuses across the country. However, this peaceful scenario did not last so long.
“If the grandchildren of freedom fighters don’t receive [quota] benefits, who will? The grandchildren of Razakars?” Hasina responded to a question during a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on July 14. Her response implied that the protesters were Razakars. Those who supported the Pakistani military’s operation to quell the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war are called Razakars in Bangladesh. That spread like wildfire. The angry students immediately organized protests at the University of Dhaka campus with an impromptu slogan “Tumi ka? Ami ka? Razakar, Razakar (Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar.”
The slogan at the Dhaka University campus angered not just the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami League but also the civil society of the country because the slogans distorted the famous slogan of the Bangladesh Liberation War movement of 1971, which is, “Tumi ka? Ami ka? Bengali, Bengali (Who are you? Who am I? Bengali, Bengali.”
Secondly, those who believe in the spirit of the liberation war of Bangladesh cannot call themselves Razakars. Razakar is a shameful term in Bangladesh. The Razakars during the liberation war committed war crimes including massacre of civilians, looting, and rape. Only anti-liberation forces and collaborators of the genocide of Bangladesh can glorify the term.
The Razakar slogan by the protesters at the Dhaka University campus changed the whole picture of the movement. The Bangladesh Awami League general secretary said that “the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party, was ready to give a fitting reply to quota protesters for their Razakar slogan.” Therefore, the leaders and supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League thrashed the students. The general students, on the other hand, protested against unlawful activities on the university campus and also retaliated against those who were thrashing them. Therefore, the angry students attacked leaders and supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and pushed them out from university campuses across the country.
The Razakar response of Hasina changed the whole scenario of the movement. This created chaos between the government and protesters leading to bloodshed in the later part of the movement. This bloodspilling inspired protesters to sacrifice more lives and they coalesced around a one-point demand of resignation of Hasina. All opposition parties cashed in on this opportunity and aligned with the protesters and they collectively managed to dethrone Hasina.
The Razakar slogan turned the peaceful movement into a revolution that the world saw on August 5. Some of the protesters had clear ideological and political goals and they succeeded. But that came at the cost of almost a thousand lives including those lost post-revolution. The Bangladeshi economy also suffered.
Bangladesh had been trying to recover from the downturn suffered during the COVID pandemic. This movement stymied the recovery. Restoring the Bangladeshi economy will be very difficult within a short time after such violence. Properties worth billions were burnt and destroyed by the protesters. The internet shutdown and curfew compounded matters and the economic loss suffered is uncountable. This movement broke the common people's dreams and took away their normal peaceful lives. After deploying the Bangladesh military across the country and forming a new interim government the protesters have been controlled. The new government was formed as per the wish of protesters but the dark days will not end soon. We are experiencing mobocracy.
We hope that the people will return to their works, and students will attend classes soon. But the violent memory scares them and many will not be able to sleep soundly in the future. The economic damage will ruin normal lives of many in the post-violence days. Nobody knows when Bangladesh will recover and the people will get to sleep soundly!
(Md. Abusalah Sakender is an Assistant Professor at Dept. of Islamic History & Culture, Jagannath University (Dhaka, Bangladesh). He has authored books including Bangla-Cooch Behar Military History, Diplomatic Politics, and Pixilated Bangladesh. He can be reached at salah.sakender@outlook.com)
