Leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, on Monday protested against the removal of a banner, greeting BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, by student leader Salahuddin Ammar.
They formed a human chain on the Paris Road, adjacent to the RU senate building, and submitted a memorandum to vice-chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib, demanding action against Ammar, general secretary of Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union.
On Sunday, Ammar removed the banner installed on Paris Road by professor Mohammad Nesar Uddin, the RU Arabic department professor and Rajshahi district council president, congratulating Tarique Rahman on becoming the BNP chairman.
Ammar claimed that Section 55 (2) of the Rajshahi University Act, 1973, prohibits party politics, political campaigns on campus, and the use of teachers’ associations for partisan political activities.
Addressing the human chain, the JCD leaders termed Ammar a mental patient who had allegedly been destroying teacher-student relations and the overall academic environment on the campus.
JCD RU unit president Sultan Ahmed Rahi said that the university administration was responsible for the removal of the banner and warned of consequences if action was not taken against Ammar within 24 hours.
‘For the sake of maintaining a healthy academic environment, we have so far exercised restraint. We demand that the university administration arrange proper mental treatment for this mentally unstable person within 24 hours,’ he said.
Rahi claimed that failure to do so would be taken as evidence that the administration had directly instructed the tearing down of the banner hung to greet Tarique Rahman.
Expressing solidarity with the programme, Rajshahi Zia Parishad president and Arabic department professor Mphammad Nesar Uddin said that tearing banners would not weaken nationalist politics.
‘The way Ammar tore the banner has deeply hurt us. We are shocked and heartbroken,’ Nesar Uddin said, demanding strict punishment.
