Bangladesh Unrest: As Sheikh Hasina Resigns, What Sparked The Student Protest?

“Chailam odhikar, hoye gelam Rajakar!” (Wanted our rights, but we were labelled Razakars!)- Slogans like these have been echoing across universities in Bangladesh, as the students' agitation has intensified over the past two months. Deadly violence has followed the massive protests by students across Bangladesh over the Muktijoddha or War Heroes quota. Amnesty International and its Crisis Evidence lab have authenticated video and photographic evidence, as well as witness testimonies, to confirm that the police has been using brute force against the protestors, as nearly 7,000 paramilitary troops have been assigned in all major cities in the country.

Many students have alleged that the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, has a significant role in carrying out the violence against the student agitators apart from the police. Students are further agitated at being labelled “Rajakars”, a term used for people who committed war crimes and atrocities in the 1971 war, by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for agitating for better public sector employment in the country. But why are students protesting the War Heroes Quota? 

A brief history of the War Heroes quota 

The 30 per cent quota for freedom fighters of the Bangladesh Liberation Movement was introduced first in 1972 in the first and second class government jobs, through an order by the Ministry of Cabinet Services. This was implemented apart from quotas in other categories such as the category for individuals belonging to different districts of Bangladesh as well women freedom fighters. In 1997, the war heroes quota was extended to the children of the freedom fighters and in 2010, it was further extended to their grandchildren. While quotas for other categories such as ethnic minorities, women and disability have altered during these years, the war heroes quota has continued to remain unaltered. The total percentage of quotas in all categories came up to 56 per cent while only 44 per cent recruitment was to be done based on merit. Between 2012 and 2013, a movement demanding a reformation of the quota system and government policies on jobs in the public sector was launched by hundreds of job aspirants. At that time, the government clearly stated that there were no plans to change the quota system in the Bangladesh Civil Services. 

In February 2018, the Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad (Bangladesh General Students’ Right Conservation Council) initiated a quota reform movement. Clashes took place between the students and the pro-quota agitators across universities in the country during this period. Eventually, in April 2018, Prime Minister Hasina announced that there would be no more quota system in the Bangladesh Civil Services exams and the jobs would be given based on the merit of the aspirants. This announcement was formalised by the government through a circular issued in October 2018, which removed the quota system for the 9-13th grade (earlier known as first and second class jobs) job recruitment process. 

In 2021, seven children of freedom fighters filed a writ petition in the High Court against the government’s 2018 circular to scrap the quota system. On June 5, 2024, the High Court gave a verdict in favour of the petitioners and reinstated the quota system by declaring the government circular illegal. It was after this ruling that the current agitation by students for quota reform kick started again in the beginning of July. Following the student agitation, the government appealed against the High Court order in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Consequently, the appellate division has issued a status quo on the order of the High Court until the next hearing in August. 

What are the students’ demands? 

The agitating students have been alleging that extending the war heroes quota to the grandchildren of the freedom fighters is unconstitutional, given that the original Constitutional provision was meant for the freedom fighters and not their children and grandchildren. They also allege that due to rampant corruption in the implementation of the quota system, the quota ends up benefitting the ruling party’s associates disproportionately. The major caveat in the implementation of this quota that allows for corruption is that the government-issued list of recognised freedom fighters in Bangladesh has reflected questionable numbers, and more than 60,000 objections have been filed about fake names in this list. But these contestations have not been resolved by the government. Therefore the primary demand that is being raised across campuses has been of quota reforms in the public sector recruitments. 

Hasan Enam, a 21 year-old doing his B.A. Hons in Islamic Studies from Dhaka University, says, “While we have been agitating for a reformation of the quota system in the past weeks, seeing our fellow students being martyred and injured in such large numbers, we now also demand terror-free campuses. We want that those who are responsible for these deaths must be brought to justice, and administrative officials who have given the orders for this brute action against students, including the Prime Minister, must resign. Otherwise we will not return to our campuses.” Enam was one of the many students who was injured on July 16 at Dhaka University, while participating in a protest march against the PM’s comments calling the protestors “razakars”. He stated that during the march, the students were attacked by members of the Awami Chhatra League with rods and sticks, and when the injured students reached Dhaka Medical College for treatment, the ACL members attacked them within the premises of the hospital as well. 

Jaheen Faruque Amin, a Dhaka-based filmmaker and writer, says that the students in Bangladesh are protesting not just against the government and its policies on jobs in the public sector, but also against the system where corruption in recruitment and question paper leaks abound, at a time when there is massive unemployment and inflation. “Many of these agitators are the same students who were in schools in 2018 when the Road Safety protests took place, and who are today in the universities of Bangladesh. They are growing up towards a bleak future in their country, which is why they have been consistently rising from the streets for the betterment of their future prospects”, he says.  

The opinion among the freedom fighters on these protests has been divided. While some have condemned the deaths but feel that the protests are disrespecting the legacy of the Bangladesh liberation war and their struggle, others like political historiographer Mohiuddin Ahmed have been more sympathetic to the protests. Writing for the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo, Ahmed has said, “What is the relationship between quotas and the spirit of the liberation war? Those of the generation who fought the liberation war are no longer of working age. I myself am a freedom fighter. I can never imagine, my children would want to get extra benefits as children of freedom fighters. But unfortunately that is the case with many.” He states that this quota has become a means of creating a pool of beneficiaries who are no longer interested in valuing the legacy of the Liberation war but are seeking extended entitlements due to increasing greed.