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Quota Reform Movement

A new generation with new hope

Published : Friday, 9 August, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 544
Maksud Ibna Rahaman
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.' This was how this paradoxical opening paragraph of Charles Dickens in 'A Tale of Two Cities' narrated the contrasting features of two cities -French and England - against the backdrop of the French Revolution. The paragraph eloquently reflected the contrasting features of two cities -French and England - and the two classes - the rich and poor.

Exactly the same contrasting phenomena are now prevalent in our country after the fall of the despotic regime of Sheikh Hasina. Is it really the best of times after the mass student upsurge or will something worst follow? Will we see the wisdom dominating over foolishness or will it be the vice versa? People put their faith in the student leadership. Disbelief is also in their eyes. Is something positively incredible going to happen? Has the season of light appeared or has the darkness descended upon our beloved motherland? People are swinging between hope and despair. Those who have survived the onslaught of the oppressive regime of Sheikh Hasina are hoping for the best and those who have lost their near and dear ones are utterly dejected and despaired. Will there be sunshine tomorrow at the cost of the lives of their sons and daughters who laid down their lives? 

We don't know what to come next but we can only surmise. After the independent country came into being we have so far witnessed two successful mass upsurges - one in 1990 in which the military ruler Ershad was overthrown from power and the recent one in which the unelected, undemocratic and autocratic Awami League government has been ousted. In between, the student movement for road safety was mercilessly suppressed by the same government in 2018. The same year (2018) quota reform movement was also launched. As it began to gain momentum the then Sheikh Hasina government whimsically cancelled the quota reservation only to revive it in 2024. 

If one goes down one's memory line one can remember the slogans of the students many of whom were school-going students who took to the streets throughout the country for safe road in 2018. The school and college students flooded the streets of the country in droves. Their road safety movement was not limited to only road safety. They could well realize that there was something wrong with the very state system. They went well beyond their slogans for road safety. They went even so far as to shout slogans for repairing the state. They vowed to set everything right. It was unprecedented when we saw them on the streets checking driving licenses, fitness certificates and road permit documents of vehicles. They even stopped the motorcycles and vehicles of policemen. I can still remember what they wrote on their placards placed at different places of the country. Their placards read: 

'Roads are closed
Works are on to repair the state.'
The placards also read:
'If you are scared
You are doomed to defeat
But if you put up resistance 
Only then you are Bangladesh.'

“Those who are getting desperate to climb the ladder of the state power at the cost of our new generation with no political commitment will be thrown into the historical garbage pit. The greater tragedy is awaiting them”

Their slogans and purposes were loud and clear. But shockingly and pathetically that movement was suppressed brutally by Helmet Bahini (Bangladesh Chhatra League goons) and police force. But the power the 2018 student movement unleashed has remained latent as every movement does. No movement for rights and justice ever fails. The 2018 movement has returned with mightier force that eventually overthrew the regime of Sheikh Hasina. Many people are of the opinion that the result of mass uprising has already been grabbed by others. Not every achievement can be grabbed so easily. Sometimes some achievements are visible while the others are invisible. If the same sort of fascist ruler comes to the helm of the state in future, I think, it will not be able to hold on to power for long with the same intensity and ferocity of the immediate-past Awami League despotic regime. 

This time the nature of the movement was quite different from that of the 2018 and 1990 movements. In 1990, so far as I can remember, parents of students did not pour on to the streets along with their children. It was first seen in the student movement of 2018 but this time the number of agitators swelled when their parents joined the movement in great number along with common people. The significant and noteworthy matter was the way the students stood with their arms wide open before the barrels of guns.  

Still the picture of Abu Sayed is fresh in our mind. He stood his ground - firm and resolute. His arms were wide open with only a fragile stick in hands as a symbol of rebellion, not to hit anyone. He knew or may not have been sure of the ferocity of law enforcers. Bullets began to ring out from some policemen from a stone's throw distance. He couldn't believe that police members of an independent country could open fire on him and that too only for the demand for the quota reform movement. Bullets began to rain upon him.

He was unmoved and unyielding with open arms against a heavily-armed contingent of police. He might have seen some bullets flying past around him before one of them shot him in the right lower abdomen. He couldn't still believe he was shot. He bent down and lifted his T-shirt a bit to see what had really happened. He could barely examine it when bullets were raining upon him one after another - one, two, three, four, five ….. I couldn't count them from the video that went viral on the social media. He might have realized that he had been hit by bullets but still he was unmoved while his body was being riddled with bullets. How long a man can endure bullets after bullets? He began to stagger back and forth but tried to hold his ground. He reeled from the impact of the gunshots. He shuffled back over to the other side of the central reservation and dropped to the ground.

This is only one example of thousands of students who learnt from Abu Sayed how to stand tall before barrels of guns of law enforcers. The country with its brave and valiant students who have learnt how to stand with their arms open ready to receive bullets and embrace death so easily has no fear. This is now a new country with a new hope, new awakening and a new generation at its forefront. Those who are getting desperate to climb the ladder of the state power at the cost of our new generation with no political commitment will be thrown into the historical garbage pit. The greater tragedy is awaiting them.
    
The writer is a senior journalist



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