BNP withdraws expulsion of leader accused of instigating attack on CU students
According to the notice, Barua – convener of the Bangladesh Nationalist Buddhist Forum – had earlier been expelled for “activities against party discipline.”
The BNP has withdrawn the expulsion order of Uday Kusum Barua, who had been removed from all party positions for allegedly instigating violence between Chittagong University (CU) students and local residents in August.
The decision was announced on Thursday (28 November) in a notice signed by BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
According to the notice, Barua – convener of the Bangladesh Nationalist Buddhist Forum – had earlier been expelled for "activities against party discipline."
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The expulsion was issued on 31 August, a day after clashes broke out between CU students and locals following the assault of a female student on 30 August. Nearly 400 students were injured in two days of unrest, and three remain unwell.
On the second day of the clashes, Barua was seen in several videos giving an agitated speech during a meeting between the university administration and local residents. In the clips, widely circulated on social media, he is heard calling students "criminals" and urging locals to "cooperate," which drew sharp criticism and led to his expulsion.
Reacting to the withdrawal of the expulsion order, Cucsu Vice President Ibrahim Hossain Rony said the BNP was "mocking students' suffering." "So many of our brothers were injured, and some still cannot return to class. Yet the BNP has reinstated a leader who openly incited such an attack. This shows that students' blood holds no value to them," he said.
"They staged a token expulsion and have now pulled this leader back into the party. If this is the BNP's true character, students will show them the red card."
Cucsu AGS and CU Chhatra Dal Joint Secretary General Auyubur Rahman Taufiq said he did not know why Barua had been expelled, and added that the university's case should proceed so that "whoever is guilty is punished."
Chhatra Shibir's CU unit president Mohammad Ali accused the BNP of "eyewash" through both the expulsion and its reversal. "We saw how Barua's instigation led local miscreants to attack students on 31 August. The BNP expelled him only for show," he said.
"Now that the election is approaching, they have brought him back. Both the expulsion and its withdrawal is a political drama meant to toy with public sentiment. The BNP should refrain from such brazen acts."
