The students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) have taken opposing stances over the decision of postponing the construction of the Fine Arts faculty building.
The incident took place at around 11 pm on Monday night.
On one side are the students from the Department of Fine Arts, while on the other is a coalition of four platforms: the Odhipotto Birodhi Mancha, the Gonobhutyan Rakhsha Andalan, a faction of the JU unit of the Student Union, and residential students of Shaheed Salam-Barkat Hall.
A group of students from Fine Arts faculty have blockade administrative office at around 1 pm, protesting postpone of construction work. The pro vice-chancellors, registrar, proctor, and other administrative officers were locked in the building till 11 pm.
Vice-Chancellor (VC) Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan visited the scene at 10 pm and asked to have a sit with the students on November 28th. Student denied to his proposal.
In the meantime another group of students were approaching the scene with “Delhi na Dhaka? Dhaka, Dhaka”, “No construction with Indian donation” slogans. VC and proctors tried to take the control over the situation. However, at around 1.45 students withdraw their blockade with VC’s assurance.
According to students advocating for the construction, they were staging a sit-in demanding the resumption of the building work. When the discussions failed with authorities, they locked the gate of the new administrative building.
Later, at around 11pm, another group comprising three platforms opposing the construction began chanting slogans against the project in front of the administrative building. They were later joined by residents of Salam-Barkat Hall.
Their demand was that the construction should not proceed without a master plan and should not be with Indian donation.
One of the Fine Arts students said: “We have been peacefully protesting since the afternoon, demanding the resumption of our building’s construction. While we were negotiating with the administration, a group of students suddenly began chanting provocative slogans against us and even disrespecting one of our teachers. We have decided to withdraw our protest for now, following the assurance of a discussion on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, leaders of the protest opposing the construction said that India is attempting to impose dominance on Bangladesh in various ways, so the students cannot allow any building at the university to be constructed with their funding. If the building is to be constructed, it should be funded by its own resources.
Pro vice-chancellor Dr Sohel Ahmed said: “We will hold a meeting on Thursday in the university’s Senate Hall with all parties. Based on everyone’s reasonable opinions, we aim to reach an agreement.”
Translated by Afsar Munna
