What happened to banning political party-based politics on campus?

During the July uprising, when the nation witnessed first hand the violence and depravity of the Bangladesh Chhatra League - the student wing of Bangladesh Awami League - there was general consensus that student politics as we know it could no longer be allowed to continue. After the first phase of mass killings in July, the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) platform even came up with a nine-point demand that included a ban on political-party affiliated student bodies and introduction of student parliaments across campuses. 

After the fall of Hasina, a survey conducted by Dhaka University Research Society found that 84% of students favoured banning party-affiliated politics on campus. 

Over the last few weeks, however, SAD leaders appear to have had a change of mind, judging by their urgent plea to student bodies like BNP-backed Bangladesh Chhatra Dal and Jamaat-e-Islami-backed Islami Chhatra Shibir to unite against a "common cause". 

In the meantime, we witnessed Shibir attract newspaper headlines by announcing committees to represent them across the nation's campuses. And of course, SAD itself has also emerged as a formal body with the formation of a convening committee. 

In the last few days, both the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee - an affiliate platform seen as a precursor to a political party in future - have been meeting with different political parties to build consensus to remove the president. 

After Shibir announced its committee, SAD's Jahangirnagar University unit issued a statement claiming they are concerned about Shibir's announcement; they believe it should have come through discussion with other stakeholders. Nonetheless, by clarifying that they disapprove of the 'secretive nature' of the committee formation, they have effectively stated they don't in principle have any issue with a political party affiliated student organisation on campus. 

So, what sort of politics does SAD want on campuses now? 

"When we say lejurbrittik (tailgating) student politics, what we mean are student organisations/parties controlled by national political parties. In such settings, we don't see student bodies take independent decisions or practise politics free of the influence of parent parties," said Mehrab Hossain Sifat, a coordinator of SAD at Jahangirnagar University. 

For example in Britain, Mehrab said, student bodies leaning towards Labour or Conservatives are not necessarily controlled by them. 

"We want politics where national parties won't have control over student bodies. If such structure is there within the parties, then fine. But if not, then they have to reform themselves and then come to campus. If not, we don't welcome them," he added. 

Dr Shamsul Alam, a professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University, said that he was in a meeting with several student political bodies on campus on Tuesday where leadership from the Chhatra Dal, SAD and other leftist groups were present. 

"From the meetings yesterday, I felt even SAD leadership don't want a ban on regular parties and their politics. I felt that they are more concerned with ensuring Chhatra League doesn't come back again," Professor Shamsul told TBS. 

In that meeting, the professor said, Chhatra Dal leadership pledged they would work independently, like when they supported the "ban on Shibir from campuses, going beyond their central command". (On August 15, 1989, after a Chhatra Dal activist was allegedly killed by Shibir activists, student bodies united to push out Shibir from Jahangirnagar campus.)

Alam emphasised that much of the problem with student politics would go away if regular students, instead of students who passed out a few batches earlier, represent the student bodies. 

"If student bodies work independently on issues of students instead of serving the parent parties, this is good and effective politics," Dr Shamsul said. "General students don't want the politics of conflict and bloodshed anymore." 

Although political party-affiliated student organizations were officially banned in 2008, preventing registered political parties from establishing student wings, this ban has largely remained unenforced.

From our conversations, we got the impression that the presence of Shibir, Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Union or any other parties in the campus is no longer a problem. Instead, the concern is now about "delinking" the student bodies from main parties.

"Delinking of student politics from national political parties is a necessity. This is important for a safe campus, stable national future, to fix the structure of civil service, and to build appropriate manpower in every sector," said Professor Dr Hasanuzzaman Choudhury, former chairman of political science at the University of Dhaka. 

So, what does that mean? Can the student bodies like Chhatra Dal, Chhatra Union or Shibir be on campus? We asked him. 

"Yes, they can," Hasanuzzaman said. "If they wish they can vote for Khaleda Zia, or Hasina's parties. But on campus, they cannot publicly reveal their affiliation with the political parties. You may have your bias for whom you would like to vote in national politics, but on campus, you cannot do your politics based on this." 

This effectively means that Shibir, Chhatra Dal and the others can remain on campuses, but they cannot represent Jamaat or BNP and other respective national political parties on campus.

But is this system not putting too much faith in the goodwill of political parties and their student bodies? Perhaps only the future will tell. 

For now, Professor Shamsul Alam sees the future in student parliaments. 

"We will organise the JUCSU [Jahangirnagar University Central Union] soon. With student parliaments, student politics will be civilised. Because, those who want to participate in elections won't be addicted or petty criminals. They will try to be good, attend their classes and exams. This will create leadership. And this leadership must come from within the regular students," the professor said.