Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad: 2 more senior leaders resign

Following the resignation of Rifat Rashid and Mehedy Sajeeb, two more senior leaders of Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad — Salahuddin Ammar, a joint member secretary, and Shyamoli Sultana, an organiser — have resigned from the newly formed student organisation.

Salahuddin and Sajeeb resigned, citing allegations of Dhaka University's (DU) dominance, while Shyamoli stepped down due to personal reasons. 

On the other hand, Rifat resigned, alleging "minus politics," and posted a lengthy status on Facebook explaining his decision.

Ammar and Sajeeb held a press briefing at Rajshahi University's Paribahan Market area today (28 February) to announce their resignation. 

With this, a total of four central leaders have resigned from the organisation within two days of its formation.

Salahuddin, a coordinator of Student Against Discrimination (SAD) at Rajshahi University, explained his resignation in a Facebook post, stating, "The new political party for students could have been inclusive. But students are losing faith in it due to its current stance. The biggest strength of our July uprising was the students. It is impossible for me to engage in politics that goes outside the pulse of those students."

"The pulse of the students is more important to us. Rajshahi University students do not want to support this Dhaka University dominance, nor do we. We are nothing if the students are not with us," he added.

Meanwhile, Shyamoli, a student from the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, also wrote on Facebook, "After July/August, I too had hopes and aspirations like everyone else, primarily centred around doing something for the people of the country and changing the conventional political trends. Therefore, I have travelled from one end of the country to the other to uphold the spirit of the mass uprising and strengthen its foundation. 

"When I felt that time was short, but the work was immense, I even prioritised this over my semester, dropping it to focus on this cause. I haven't been able to attend most of my classes in the current semester. However, I am resigning from everything today due to special circumstances."

Mehedy, the 6th Joint Convener, wrote, "Today, my name has been announced as a joint convener in the central committee of the Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad. Last night, I made my stance clear on this matter and am reiterating it now. I cannot be part of a platform that, under the guise of new arrangements, is fostering a new fascist mindset centred around Dhaka and Dhaka University."

"I condemn associating me with this party without my consent. It is because of the students of Rajshahi University that I have grown as Mehedi Sajeeb today. My clear message is that I will not engage in any political understanding with them until the stakeholders of this party can move away from the fascist mindset centred around Dhaka and Dhaka University and focus on decentralisation. Therefore, I am resigning from this position."

During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon (26 February), the Students Without Discrimination (SAD) coordinators announced the formation of Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad. 

Abu Bakar Majumdar, convener of the organisation, made the announcement.

A 205-member central committee of the student organisation was announced in a press conference yesterday afternoon (27 February). 

Following the press conference, Rifat explained the reasons for his resignation in a lengthy Facebook post. 

He mentioned that he was initially told he would be the member secretary of the new student organisation. Later, he was removed from that position and offered the role of chief organiser, and subsequently, he was again shifted to the position of spokesperson. 

Finally, he was proposed for the position of senior joint member secretary after being "minused" from his previous roles. In the Facebook post, he stated that he had accepted each change, considering the collective interest, up until the spokesperson position.

However, when he was proposed for the joint member secretary role, he clearly stated that he would not remain part of this student organisation.