Bangladeshi student group that led ouster of former premier mulls politics

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) — The student platform that led a mass uprising to oust former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ending her 15-year rule last year, announced plans Wednesday to launch a new political party to bring a “shift” in the country's politics.

“The existing political structure and political parties have failed to read the aspirations of the people in the country … they also failed to understand the youths and read their mind,” Hasnat Abdullah, a key convener of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, told a news conference.

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and Jatiya Nagorik (citizens) Committee organized the briefing in Dhaka to seek support and opinions to determine the party's name and symbol.

Abdullah said demonstrators toppled the "fascist" Hasina regime in the uprising, but that allied elements linger in state bodies and must be eliminated and to properly establish democratic institutions in the South Asian nation.

The students have been discussing launching a political party in February. Last August, after Hasina fled to India, they had advocated for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammad Yunus to head the transitional government. The uprising resulted in approximately 1,000 deaths and over 22,000 injured.

Yunus says the students should launch a party to keep the aspiration of the July uprising alive.

Existing parties, however, criticized the move as being pursued under state influence.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said people will not take it positively if students form parties under the shadow of the transitional government.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said students have the right to form political parties, but people would not accept it if they launch a party while remaining in the government. Two young advisers of the Yunus government are from the student platform.

The political parties have demanded a national election in August, fearing that a delay could deepen crisis in the country.

Yunus, earlier, however, said his government was preparing to hold the next elections in December or early next year.