Dhaka University’s ‘revolutionary’ road: Agitation, violence not new on campus

Most major universities in Dhaka closed their gates on Wednesday, July 17, after at least six people died and thousand others injured in violent campus protests over job allocations. After two days of intense clashes, the University Grants Commission has urged all universities to close pending further instructions. The students are currently protesting against a system introduced in 1972 by then Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, reserving 30 per cent of seats for children of freedom fighters. This quota reserved jobs for others as well, while 44 per cent remained based on merit.

These reservations were scrapped by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2018, and there was no quota system till 2021, when a group of petitioners went to the High Court in 202, after which the High Court reinstated the quota on July 1, 2024, which reignited these protests. Following that, the Attorney General of Bangladesh approached the Supreme Court with a petition that was filed on July 16. Currently, the Supreme Court has suspended the High Court’s order for four weeks.

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So, is all of this violence and bloodshed resulting from the supposedly apolitical students, justified for the sake of this issue? Or, does it smell of political conspiracy and a game of street politics being played out using the frustration of students against the current Sheikh Hasina led government?

Dhaka University, which has now suspended all classes and closed its dormitories indefinitely, is the centre of violence. This is not an unfamiliar or a never before seen set of circumstances for Dhaka University, a campus forever and inextricably associated with blood, violence and rebellion for 103 years now.

The University of Dhaka first unlocked its doors on July 1, 1921, with Mr PJ Hartog as its first Vice Chancellor. The University started its journey with three faculties: Art, Science and Law with twelve departments. At the University’s first convocation in 1923, the Chancellor of the University Lord Lytton said, “The University is Dacca’s(Dhaka) greatest possession and it will do more than anything else to increase and spread the fame of Dhaka beyond the limits of Bengal, or even India, itself.”

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Despite having a political origin it was never intended to serve the agenda of any particular race or community. In the early years of its history more than 80 per cent of its students and faculties were Hindu.

Just a few years after its inception, the university became an intellectual centre of Bengal. In 1926, Rabindranath Tagore was given a grand reception at the university, and the following year was the turn of rebel poet Nazrul Islam.

The middle class intellectuals that the university produced would ultimately become a strong catalyst for political and social change, and the university would quickly go on to become a hotbed for political rebellion, protest and the violence and bloodshed that follows these two themes.

Starting with the Pakistan Movement in 1940, which was initially part of the Indian Independence Movement, but later sought to establish a new nation state for Muslims of British India, students of Dhaka University were heavily involved, with many lives lost.

The Language Movement was a hallmark event that firmly established Dhaka University as a pivotal hub for socio-political rebellion and protest culture. The Language Movement began in 1947 and ended in February 1952, with the adoption of Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan. The central leaders of Pakistan wanted Urdu to be the state language of Pakistan, as Hindi was for India, however the students and intellectuals of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) demanded that Bangla be made one of the state languages. When the central government of Pakistan, under the initiative of Fazlur Rahman, their Central Education Minister was preparing to announce Urdu as the uncontested state language, East Pakistani students became agitated and held a meeting at the Dhaka University campus on December 6, 1947, demanding that Bangla be made one of the state languages.

This meeting was followed by more student processions and large-scale agitation on the Dhaka University Campus. The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan rejected this idea and proposed that only Urdu and English would be spoken at the Assembly. This led to the movement gaining more fire as Dhaka University became the centre of campaign for the Bangla Language Movement. Violence, ensued as East Pakistan leaders such as Shamsul Huq and Mujibur Rehman were arrested. Again, a meeting took place in the premises of the Dhaka University when Md. Toaha was severely injured as he tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman. Strikes were observed at the university between March 12 and March 15.

As circumstances continued to turn worse over the next few months, with neither side giving in, the government decided to impose Section 144 in Dhaka, banning all assemblies and demonstrations. The students were determined to violate Section 144 and held a meeting at 11.00 am on February 21, 1952, on campus. When the meeting began, the Vice Chancellor came and requested the students not to violate the ban on the Assembly, but the students under their leaders remained adamant. When they emerged in groups shouting slogans, the police resorted to baton charge. Even the women were not spared. Three young men were fatally wounded and a nine-year-old boy, Ohiulla, was also killed. The Language Movement continued until 1965, when the Pakistan Constituent Assembly adopted Urdu and Bangla as State languages.

Another watershed moment in the bloody history of Dhaka University was during the massacre in Bangladesh in 1971. Operation Searchlight was launched by Army Eastern Wing Commander Tikka Khan, in order to quell the Bangladeshi nationalist movement, in former East Pakistan, current day Bangladesh. As part of the operation the Army launched its deadly attack on Dhaka University, no more just a mere academic institution, once again validating its status as the epicenter of rebellion and harbingers of revolution.

Brigadier Siddique Salik later wrote in his book, “I was surveying mass graves in the University area where I found three pits- each between five and fifteen metres in diameter. They were filled with fresh earth, but no officer was willing to disclose the number of casualties. From the University area, I drove on the principal roads of Dacca city and saw odd corpses lying on the footpaths or near corners of winding streets.”

Later it was estimated that the Pakistani Army had killed at least 200 students and ten professors of Dhaka University.

A university might seem like a strange place to attack for any military during the suppression of an independence movement, but Dhaka University’s reputation precedes itself. Its revolutionary and bloody history also includes the 1969 mass upsurge, the movement against disparity, the six-point movement and the movement against communal riots in 1964 and 1966.

Yes, historically, Dhaka University and its students are remembered in history for having always answered the call of revolution, independence, freedom and equality.

However, it’s important, now, to note that the current violence and bloodshed is ill fated and avoidable, as the government tries to convince the students that they are on the same page as them. Civil unrest can often be instigated for all the wrong reasons, especially for a newly elected government, and frustrations of students in a developing economy can often be weaponised for all kinds of purposes and agenda.

Dhaka University is an institution whose history and reputation needs no reintroduction or outside felicitation. Let us hope the judiciary and the government come in harmony and put an end to this unfortunate violence as soon as possible and restore peace to this great institution, the country and its most valuable asset: Students.

The author is a freelance journalist and features writer based out of Delhi. Her main areas of focus are politics, social issues, climate change and lifestyle-related topics. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.