The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, students’ body associated with opposition BNP, has failed to form its full-fledged central body although the half-baked committee has meanwhile lapsed half of its six-month tenure. Five top executives, including president and general secretary, were named on July 1 and they were given 10 days to complete the committee which will continue until JCD holds its national council session in January 2010.

But nothing has progressed since then for what insiders said lack of interest of the chosen leaders as well as strong opposition they faced from JCD rank and file since their names were made public. BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia endorsed Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and Amirul Islam Khan Alim as JCD president and general secretary respectively, while Shahidul Islam Babul was made senior vice-president, Amiruzzaman Khan Shimul joint secretary and Anisur Rahman Khokan organising secretary.

The announcement instantly met with severe resentment within the JCD with several units including the one at Dhaka University denounced the leadership, covertly or overtly, saying that some of the chosen leaders had criminal records and little or no acceptability among JCD activists and sympathizers. Insiders say the unfavourable attitude held back the new leadership from proceeding further with completing the committee.

Talking to New Age Saturday JCD president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku declined to comment why the committee did not get a complete shape even in three months. But he said the full-fledged committee will be formed in next seven days. Members of the dissolved central committee and the Dhaka University unit of JCD, who have been aspiring for positions in the new central committee, expressed their resentments to New Age blaming the five leaders for concentrating more on personal interests than on initiatives to form full-fledged committee.

‘The senior leaders who had completed studies at least a decade ago cannot lead the students of present time. There remains huge communication gap between the students across the decade. At a time when the parent organisation needs strong support from students, chosen JCD leaders have taken a Gandhi-like role,’ said a member of the dissolved central committee, hoping for a place in the new committee. Another one said the track record of the leaders was not fair enough to impress the students and some of them had criminal history. ‘How could they lead the students?’ he said.

The activists who had worked hard during the crisis of the BNP especially during the state of emergency think that they did not get any recognition from the organisation for their role. They believe that they deserve positions in the new committee. They said factionalism deferred formation of a full-fledged committee which, to them, was essential for an opposition party to wage movements against the anti-people activities of the ruling party.

Names of 30 members of the Dhaka University unit’s convening committee were announced on July 17 with Abdul Matin as convener and they were asked to form a 71-member full convening committee in 15 days and form the hall committees in three months. But no initiative was taken to complete the task even in two-and-half months since then. JCD hopefuls of hall and university leadership told New Age that they became frustrated by the delay as end of their studentship was approaching fast.

One of the five top leaders, on condition of anonymity, told New Age that the two top leaders were not interested to form the full-fledged committee. He also admitted that the new committee earned criticism from within the organisation for incorporating leaders who were no longer students. Obaidul Haq Nasir, a co-convener of Dhaka University unit of JCD, claimed they were trying their best to give the university unit a full shape at the earliest but declined to say when and how.

-New Age