The final phase of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement began on the first day of July. After the launching of their movement in protest against the 5 June High Court (HC) decision reinstating the quota system, students carried out several programmes for five days.
From a protest march at Dhaka University on 9 June, they issued an ultimatum to the government to meet their demands by 30 June as most of the university campuses were expected to go for Eid-ul-Azha vacation till then.
After a hiatus of 21 days, on 1 July, students resumed their movement, taking to the streets. It was the day when they first appeared in the scene under the banner of Students Against Discrimination.
Students held a gathering at the base of the Raju Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus in the morning. Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators of the platform and a student of the sociology department, placed a four-point demand and announced the next course of action from the gathering.
The programmes included a mass march from the university’s central library the following day. Students from all universities and colleges across the country were called upon to observe the same programme on their respective campuses simultaneously.
Besides, Nahid announced that they would hold a rally in front of the Raju Sculpture with students from all educational institutions on 3 and 4 July.
Students of Jahangirnagar University also held a rally and protest march around 11:30 am in support of the same demands. As part of the protest, they staged a symbolic blockade on the Dhaka-Aricha highway from 11:57 am to 12:07 pm. The students declared that if the quota system is not abolished by 4 July, they would block the highway for an indefinite period, according to a report published in the Daily Samakal on 2 July.
Jagannath University students also brought out a protest march and held a rally on the campus with the same demand in the morning. They announced a continuous movement if their demands are not met.
Meanwhile, around 50 students of Chittagong University, braving the rain, formed a human chain demanding the abolition of the quota system and reinstatement of the 2018 circular, the Daily Samakal report added.
Similarly, students of Rajshahi University held a human chain with the same demand. Students of Barishal University also formed a human chain and staged a protest march in front of the administrative building in the morning.
Earlier, on 30 June night, students held a meeting at the Mall Chattar on the Dhaka University campus where the name, Students Against Discrimination, was finalised in place of the name of the Facebook page of the movement, Quota Punorbohal Cholbena (Quota cannot be reinstated), to make the movement more inclusive.
Before this, organisers of the movement returned to the Dhaka University campus after spending the Eid-ul-Azha vacation from 26-27 June and began formal meetings with all. They used the vacation period as well to reorganise the movement, conducting a number of online meetings, but their physical presence and contact boosted the confidence of the ordinary students who felt deprived following the HC decision.
Though during the initial phase, students had a lack of planning and arrangements, this time they were more organised and focused.
One of the coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and current Local Government and Rural Development Adviser, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, writes in his much talked-about memoir “July Matrivumi Othoba Mrityu” that explains the matter.
“Keeping the real scenario in mind, we formed several teams. Abu Baker Mazumder and Abdul Hannan Masud were tasked to communicate with the students who conducted small programmes at their respective universities. Individuals were also selected to contact students of district-level colleges,” he writes.
Before the end of their pre-announced ultimatum of 30 June for bringing logical reforms to the quota system, on 29 June, organisers entered the library and urged the students to take part in an open discussion. Joining it, ordinary students shared their opinion, and based on that, they together announced a four-point demand unanimously.
Students knew that it was challenging to reorganise the movement. Therefore, they went to every student dormitory to confirm adequate participation in the 1 July programme. They were hopeful as students had no way to attend classes amid teachers’ work abstention, which was going on for several days, demanding their exclusion from the universal pension scheme.
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