The current government is politicising appointments right from taking power, National Parliament opposition whip and former Islami Chhatra Shibir central president Maulana Rafiqul Islam Khan has said. He said party loyalists are being installed across all city corporations, district councils and government corporations in the country. He made the comments as chief guest at a freshers’ reception for students organised by the Rajshahi University unit of Chhatra Shibir at the Kazi Nazrul Islam auditorium on Saturday (September 12).
Maulana Rafiqul Islam Khan said vice-chancellors at universities across the country have been replaced before the end of their terms. He said the election manifesto had promised that elected representatives would hold responsibilities across all areas of the state, but in practice, party loyalists have been installed in various institutions, including city corporations, district councils and the public service commission.
On the referendum, he said: “Seventy percent of people voted in favour of the referendum. But they don’t accept that verdict. Now they’re saying they said ‘yes’ in the referendum just to secure elections — holding the referendum was never part of their plan.”
He claimed the referendum’s purpose was to establish a balance of power between the prime minister and the president, and to ensure that no one could become an autocrat in the future. Failing to honour the referendum’s verdict, he said, amounts to a betrayal of the nation.
Accusing the government of reviving the politics of enforced disappearances and killings, the opposition whip said 133 ordinances were issued during the interim government’s tenure, of which 20 have been repealed. According to him, one of these was an ordinance related to a commission on enforced disappearances and killings. He alleged the law was changed so that police themselves would conduct investigations, and that a complainant whose allegation isn’t proven would face five years in prison. This, he said, would make people afraid to even file complaints, and represents an attempt to push Bangladesh back toward authoritarian rule.
At the event, Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir central president Nurul Islam Saddam said a large section of teachers are preoccupied only with politics, and university teachers rarely seem to consider which students are doing what, what they might do in the future, or whether any student needs counselling on any matter.
On viva scores for grade 11-20 government job recruitment, he said: “Under the Awami League government, when a 200-mark viva was held, a student who scored very low in the written exam was given 190 marks in the viva and placed in the administration or police cadre. But a student who scored very well in the written exam was asked irrelevant questions in the viva and eliminated. As a result, a student who should have gone into the administration cadre ended up in the education cadre or non-cadre track because of a low viva score. I want to say from this programme today: no PSC exam viva should carry more than 50 marks, and a constructive institutional structure must be built for the PSC. If this government, which came to power because of this movement, cannot reform the charter of that very movement, there is no need for this government.”
In his closing remarks, unit Shibir president Mujahid Faisal said: “We are currently seeing two conspiracies and blueprints. One is the 50th BCS circular, which was issued unchanged from before. The other is that viva marks have been increased for third and fourth class government jobs. Through this, the current government is trying to do exactly what past governments did — hatch a blueprint to appoint party loyalists to various positions. We want to say from today’s programme: the post-24 generation will never accept this. If necessary, a relentless movement must be built again today. But the quota system, buried at the cost of the blood of 2,000 martyrs, must never be allowed to return.”