JCD fights over age
Courtesy Daily Star 9/2/09
Junior leaders call for age limit, voting rights
A row has erupted within the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) over whether to impose an age limit on its leaders ahead of reshuffling the central committee.
While younger members favour an injection of fresh leadership into the BNP student wing, the majority of senior JCD leaders, who are mostly into their early forties, are not keen on upsetting the status quo.
It became a divisive issue when last week BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia met senior JCD leaders as well as the rank and file to learn their views before forming a new committee.
Senior leaders urged her to set up a convening committee for the time being and then go for a new committee with 'experienced' leaders within six months. On the other hand, a few junior leaders were keen on having voting rights to elect a new leadership.
JCD sources said electing committees of all of the 88 organisational units has long been overdue. Although the tenure of the current central committee with Azizul Bari Helal as president and Shafiul Bari Babu as general secretary has elapsed, yet it has remained unresolved for the last two years.
Some fresh student leaders even submitted a letter to members of the BNP high command including MK Anwar, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain outlining their reasons to introduce dynamic leadership, JCD sources said.
In the letter they stated that the present JCD leadership has failed to inspire the student wing in different movements as they distance themselves from current students. Some even blasted the body for turning into a 'family of uncles'.
According to the letter, they claimed JCD president Azizul Bari Helal passed his SSC examination in 1983, senior vice-president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and general secretary Shafiul Bari Babu in 1985 while vice-presidents Jayanta Kuman Kundu, Mostafa Khan Safari, Nurul Islam Nayan, Shahidul Islam Babul, Ekramul Haque Biplob and Azharul Haque and organising secretary Abdul Kader Bhuyian Jewel all did it in 1985-86.
Moreover, most of the central and
A central committee leader seeking anonymity said as it is hard for senior leaders to communicate with junior first-year students due to the age difference, so the time has come to consider imposing age restrictions.
The young leaders proposed forming the committee with leaders who passed their SSC exams in 1990 and also have experience of engaging in politics during the 1996-2001 Awami League reign.
Shafiul Bari Babu told The Daily Star, "Experienced leaders are needed to run the party when it is in the opposition and the BNP high-ups would take it into consideration. Experience can minimise the gap between general students and leaders.”
However, a
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