Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student front of the ruling Awami League in Bangladesh – world’s third-largest Muslim nation has expressed solidarity with the ongoing global pro-Palestine student movement by organizing processions across the country and demanding the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. This movement by BCL activists has been wholeheartedly welcomed by the people of Bangladesh. The program includes raising the flag of Palestine in every educational institution throughout the country, processions, and student gatherings. Thousands of members of BCL joined the program.
At Dhaka University, the solidarity event centered around the Raju Sculpture, where the Chhatra League’s central unit president and general secretary delivered speeches. Students across the campus carried placards and banners with messages such as “Free Palestine, stop the genocide”, amplifying their call for action. Chhatra League president Saddam Hussain in his speech said, that the masks of those who identify themselves as the custodians of democracy have been exposed. He said, “we want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In the United States, I have seen Jewish students also speak out for the freedom of Palestine. I want to put a question to the people of the world, after the death of how many people you will call it genocide?”
Saddam Hussain said, “When America vetoed the independence of Palestine, the students of that country were speaking for Palestine”.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s father of the nation, was the first as head of the Bangladeshi government to recognize the Palestinian struggle for independence and showed solidarity against Israeli atrocities and illegal occupations. With the legacy of Bangabandhu, to this day, no government of Bangladesh has recognized Israel as a country. Presently, Bangabandhu’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power since 2009 has been extremely vocal against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. A large number of political observers in the world are already saying, by taking a firm stand against Israeli atrocities on Palestinians, Sheikh Hasina has emerged into a powerful voice in the Muslim world.
In contrast, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam, known as pro-Islamist parties, are maintaining stone-cold silence regarding solidarity towards Palestine. All wings of the BNP-led alliance are refraining from any activity against Israel’s atrocities and Western leaders’ anger, especially that of Joe Biden. It is now clear to the Bangladeshi people that BNP and its allies are seeking to return to power by appeasing Joe Biden and Western leaders. Angry Bangladeshi citizens are saying, that BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman, who has been residing in London since 2007 is looking to return to power through an unconstitutional process by licking the foot of Joe Biden. The silence of BNP and Jamaat has already drawn criticism in Bangladesh, while most of people are branding these parties as a “club of hypocrites and Western mercenaries” and “Satan’s secret weapons”.
Today, all Muslim countries of the world are united against Israeli forces’ genocide against Palestine. However, the BNP and its allies have taken a stance against Muslims. The hypocrisy of their past love for Islam has become evident to the people of Bangladesh today. It is now clear that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islam are sycophants of anti-Islamic Westerners and have utilized Islam as a tool to regain power.
BCL, as an organization deeply intertwined with the sacrifices of our nation’s freedom struggle, bears the legacy of the fight for independence. That’s why it expresses unwavering support for the independent Palestine movement. BCL’s movement strives for the recognition of Palestine’s sovereignty, upholding justice, and vehemently opposing the genocide, breaches of international law, and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel.
Condemning the atrocities, massacres, and ongoing human rights violations against innocent Palestinian civilians spanning over eight decades, BCL pledges unwavering support to those advocating for peace in the region. However, instead of holding Israeli oppressors accountable, President Joe Biden’s administration is assisting Israeli forces in continuing their killing of innocent Palestinians. It’s a complete double standard stance of Biden’s controversial agendas. The Western leaders led by US President Joe Biden are bluffing the Global South leaders. They preach human rights, freedom of expression, the right to self-determination, and the right to religion, which they never practice themselves. Now, the world has witnessed that President Biden does not believe in freedom of expression or even human rights like the right to non-violent movement. The Biden administration and Western State leaders do not hesitate to assault on student non-violent movements in solidarity with Palestine. By continuing cruel repression of pro-Palestine and pro-peace movements in the United States and other Western countries, Western leaders have already turned into abettors of atrocities and genocide as well as crime against humanity.
In Bangladesh, student organizations remind us that they have always been at the forefront of humanity and justice in the history of politics. The Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) has made tremendous contributions to Bangladesh’s Liberation War and mass movements against repression. Now, they have stood against so-called superpowers like the United States, which already is branded by many as Banana Republic and “Third World”.
M A Hossain
The writer is a political and defense analyst based in Bangladesh. He can be reached at writetomahossain@gmail.com
